A Thought

Well November officially came to a close yesterday, crazy I know. It is hard to imagine that 2013 is almost over, and now there is just one more month standing in between us and 2014. But holy nonsense CHRISTMAS! We have our tree decorated and the Christmas jams on repeat. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

However, Christmas is not what I wanted to discuss today. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what it means to be truly thankful, or rather how much I take for granted.

The nail-biting game between my Baylor Bears and the TCU Horned Frogs took full advantage of my entire range of emotions. I have never been more angry at some of those refs, aghhh do not even get me started on some of their calls, but I have also never been more happy or proud as when I saw our guys continue to fight and eventually win the game. It was emotional... wow, never thought I would be saying that over a game of football.

And I prayed... a lot. But the thing was that I only prayed when the going got tough for Baylor, and of course it was silly and stupid things I was asking for the whole time. And not once did I take the time to thank God for listening to my rather petty prayers. I asked for something, which he gave me, and I never said thank you. 

I realized that I do this a surprising amount in my day-to-day life, whether I'm asking for guidance on a test, or to survive an obstacle that seems impossible to overcome. I don't know if any of you have been asked whether or not you pray, but I have and most of the time my response- in my head at least- is something like "Oh yeah, I totally pray. Like all the time." And though that is technically true, I only do it when I need something and apparently I need quite a few things. But I never say thank you. I do this every day, and every day He continues to forgive me and keep providing for me. 

It amazes me. He just sits there listening to me, answering me, while He gets nothing in return. Not even the slightest thought like "Hey Big Guy, thanks for delivering once again! You're a pretty rad God in case you forgot." Or something like that, I do believe I have actually started a prayer off with 'yo' as if God is my home boy or something. Yeah... MOVING ON.

It just bothers me knowing that I continuously do this, and it bothers me even more that I never took notice until yesterday. You would never do this to a tangible human being, like your parents, friends, or a stranger, would you? Normally -unless you have absolutely no manners- you express appreciation and thanks towards someone that has followed through on a request that you had made of them. You might even do something for them in return, thus building up trust. You end up knowing that you can always rely on the other person and vice versa. 

I feel that the same goes for the Man Upstairs. He does things for you, so why not show a bit of love and appreciation in return? When you make an effort to seek God in return, you begin to trust Him more and your relationship will grow stronger. Which is one thing I personally struggle greatly with. I never take the time to listen to Him, or to at least do something else besides ask a favor of Him.

The point is that there is so much that He does for us that we should be thankful for, even the small things that we often overlook. The going may get tough every now and then, and it is okay to ask for help, but just remember to show Him a bit of love in return and at least say thank you. He definitely deserves to hear it after putting up with us.

Just a thought. Hope you all had a marvelous Thanksgiving.

Thanks for reading!

xxCaitlin.