This time of year, a lot of us start thinking about gratitude. Usually, it's a quick discussion around the Thanksgiving table. This year, a family I know is teaching me what true gratitude looks like when life is about as hard as it gets.
They're a young family facing something I can't fathom. The mother is terminally ill, with only weeks left to live. Her husband and their young children are living each day like it could be the last.
It's a private situation, so I won't share more than that. But I can't not share what I'm learning through their story.
I’ll be honest, I see myself in that husband. I’m a husband and a dad too. It’s not that I haven’t dealt with loss before, but watching him made me realize how finite my time is with the people I love most, and how quickly everything can change.
Yet, in spite of facing the darkest of challenges, he's expressed a deep sense of gratitude.
Clearly, gratitude isn’t tied to circumstances. That may sound simple. It isn’t. But if that family can be grateful for every day in the middle of what they’re facing, there’s nothing I can’t find gratitude in.
Something the husband said recently has stuck with me:
Sadness, grief, and gratitude can all live in the same heart at the same time.
He's not thankful for the diagnosis. He's heartbroken. But he's still thankful for one more day, and he still thanks God for His faithfulness through it all.
If you're carrying something heavy, nobody's telling you to be thankful for it. But watching him, I'm seeing that our deepest losses often come from our greatest gifts. He's grieving because he has been given an amazing bride and an incredible mom for his kids.
The grief is that big because the gift is that good.
It's easy for me to think about gratitude when things are going well. He showed me it's a decision. He didn't wait to feel it. He's choosing to find it in what I can only imagine are the hardest days of his life.
Most of my frustrations are petty, not just compared to what this family is facing, but compared to the challenges people face all over the world.
My nine-year-old who tests my patience is the son I prayed for through infertility.
The house that always needs work is the home I dreamed of owning.
The staff team member who dropped a ball fills a seat I prayed to fill.
Every one of them is something I once asked for. This family has reframed how I'm seeing life this week.
One more day is a gift. This family knows that in a way most of us don't, while I tend to live like I have an unlimited supply.
I don't.
At some point, every one of us will take a last breath, and most of us won't know when it's coming. I don't say that to scare anyone. I say it to wake us up.
None of us gets to read the last page of our own story ahead of time. We just get today. Let's not waste it.
If you pray, please keep this family in your prayers. And this week, let's honor what they're walking through by not overlooking the gifts already in our own lives.
What are you grateful for today, and who needs to hear it?
Rusty is the founder of The Master's Lawn & Pest and writes Rusty's Corner to share real-life lessons from leadership, the wins, the struggles, and the growth in between. If we can help with your landscape or pest control, call or text our office at (352) 378-5296, or fill out our online form.