27. A People of Thanksgiving

Going back to my home church in Nevada is always quite the experience for me.

For starters, it's a very intimate church setting; the congregation never exceeds 40 people, much smaller than my home church in LA. Because of that, it's also ridiculously informal--conversations amongst the congregates are commonplace during the church service itself.

Sure, I grew up in this church, but returning for a Sunday morning worship service never fails to provide a healthy dose of culture shock, reminding me that I'm no longer in slick, image-conscious, youth-oriented Hollywood. On one hand, it's a bit aggravating for me ("Can't they actually plan out a worship service for once instead of winging the whole thing?" I often think); on the other hand, it's a bit refreshing.

But it can also be downright inspiring: my home church is filled with people who utterly put me to shame in their ability to give genuine, heartfelt thanks.

A portion of the service is always devoted to the sharing of praises and prayer requests, and as was the case today, the worship leader opened the time by suggesting that everyone take a moment to think about some of the blessings they've experienced over the past year. What followed was a wonderful few minutes in which a litany of praises--both great and small--was lifted up: an elderly woman beating cancer, a drug addict making significant progress in staying clean, families able to reunite for the holidays, job stability in tumultuous economic times, a working vehicle, a good school system.

I must say, I was extremely impressed and encouraged by the faith and gratitude on display this morning.

It's not that I'm not grateful or thankful; after all, the whole point of this blog is to ruminate on the things--both great and small--for which I'm grateful. But I find that I tend to allow the disappointments of life to overshadow the blessings.

I mean, here we are, days away from 2009, and though I know that 2008 brought with it so much for me to be grateful for, I can't help but feel like the year was one giant letdown, of sorts. Certainly one might make the case that, for me personally, 2008 was indeed a disappointment on a number of fronts (relationally, occupationally, creatively, and just with my life direction in general). But in doing so, one might neglect to see what a year of growth, challenge, and increasing stability it was for me.

Despite the difficult and trying circumstances that the past year has often found us in (or perhaps in spite of them), there is still so much to be genuinely grateful for. I'm glad today brought with it a chance to see a real exercise in thanksgiving, a practice I give a lot of lip service (or should I say, *ahem*, blog service) to, but in truth still have a long, long way to go in fully understanding.