a key to joy?

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Col 1:17

I live in a small but lovely two bedroom apartment with three beautiful and incredibly diverse girls. The four of us are about as different as different can get. There is Chimgee, from Mongolia, a woman of God whose faith and perseverence humbles me to my core, Karen, my precious friend from Hong Kong, who always listens well and lives to please her Lord alone, Jessica, a stylish, creative and hilarious artist from Oklahoma, who loves to laugh and share, and me. More about the three of them later... they deserve a blog each. But that's just background for my story on thanksgiving.

This morning, Karen and I woke bright and early to have quiet time before class. Karen walked into the kitchen, turned on the sink and garbage disposal, and it started growling at us in a way that definitely meant it was unhappy. I walked over to inspect it with her, and we found that there was a handful tiny popcorn kernels down in the bottom... not particularly garbage disposal friendly. I reached my hand down, but they slipped and jumped and refused to be caught. It took about a full minute to grab just one. The last thing I wanted to be doing at 7 in the morning was sticking my hand down a dirty drain to fish for tiny popcorn kernels. My first response was pretty much bitter frustration. It was not cute. But then, Karen and I decided that for each popcorn kernel we pulled out we would say something we were thankful for. One at a time, we reached in, grabbed one, pulled it out, and thanked God for our apartment, his provision, something. I know it sounds cheesy, but I don't even care: It worked and our hearts changed.

God amazes me. He truly changes our hearts as we obey him. He can turn something nasty into something beautiful. Sitting in traffic, waiting in the grocery store line, having a friend forget to meet you... When we start finding things to be thankful for, or countenance just changes. This is just one more incredible blessing of being in the body of Christ- we really can be thankful, and joyful, in the most, for lack of better words, "blegh" situations.