Making Time to be Grateful
Making Time to be Grateful
by JB Hecock, Brookwoods Alumnus
No doubt that your calendars are filling up with holiday events, parties, get-togethers, and shopping trips. It’s super crazy this time of year. It’s hard to find time (or more accurate, give time) to reflect on what we are thankful for. Ever since our kiddos were little, my wife Iris has had each of us take a piece of construction paper and draw or write what we are thankful for since last Thanksgiving. Stickers, markers, and crayons cover the table each year. If we had guests, they were no exception to our Thanksgiving morning tradition—everyone fills up a piece of paper with thanks. It’s pretty cool to go back now over the last decade or so, and see what was going on in our lives. Call it a tradition, or a spiritual discipline, it’s definitely worth giving time and space to these moments.
And about those moments…for me, it’s hard to live in the moment. It’s hard to be present to what is going on around me. I tend to be focused, albeit too much, on the future. This is even more true when I am going through a difficult or stressful time. Over the last few years, we have faced some incredibly difficult and challenging times, almost feeling as though the entire world was against us. Against me. And in the moment, it is hard for me to see God in the midst of it all. I can only see what is directly in front of me. The fog of the hard keeps me from even seeing the next step.
I’ve started giving space for reflection, inviting the Holy Spirit into that time. I know, that’s like Christianity 101. And though it feels basic, in our culture and for me, it is still incredibly hard to do. I’ve learned over time, that when I do give space and invite the Holy Spirit into my reflection, He shows me where He was in the hard. He shows me where He was protecting me in some cases, leading me in others, as well as present, but silent in yet others. And, perhaps the most unexpected thing, He shows me the blessings that were in the hard. His presence, voice, protection, leading—they are all blessings. Not necessarily what I wanted while walking through the hard, but they were definitely what I needed in the hard.
This season of giving thanks, anticipating Christmas, the start of a new year, I would encourage all of us to give space and time for the Holy Spirit to not only show us the tangible blessings of family, provision, snow, but to also show us blessings in the hard. I would encourage us all to pray for the supernatural ability to be grateful for the hard. Have a blessed holiday season.
JB and Iris Hecock along with their three kids, reside in Northern Ohio. After living an adventure of coffee roasting, community development, and church planting in Russia and Mongolia, they are now embarking on the adventure of leading a church that is growing in awareness of the Holy Spirit. In the spring of 1999, JB searched online for “Christian camp” and Brookwoods was the first thing that popped up! That summer he was a Moose counselor and returned in 2000 as the Senior Unit Director. You can reach JB at jb@bac.church.
