Gratitude for ALL of Our Gifts

And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. // Luke 17:11-19*

I stared down at the pregnancy test. Negative again, of course. I could have predicted the outcome because it was always the same. For a decade I took test after test after test, and they always resulted in that familiar singular line. 

Please take this cross, I’d whisper into the depths of the darkness. It was my well-worn prayer, my plea for healing and hope. 

It took nearly ten years for this prayer to be answered. The cross of infertility filled my heart with so many things for so long—doubt, bitterness, anguish. But now, as a mother, it fills my heart with something so completely different: gratitude. Because somewhere deep in the ache and the tears was an unforeseen gift, one that forever shifted my perspective of motherhood and gave me the ability to truly appreciate the wonder of it all. 

Today we celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States of America, and though those outside of the country do not celebrate this holiday with us, it is still a wonderful invitation to reflect with gratitude on all we have been given. The Church has provided us with a Gospel reading for this particular celebration (see Luke 17:11-19) about the gratitude of one of ten persons healed from leprosy, and while reading it, I couldn’t help but reflect upon the goodness that so often springs forth from the crosses we carry. 

There is always thanksgiving, it seems, in the healing or the answered prayers. Like the healed leper, we often return to Christ with a thankful heart once our particular problem has been solved. But I wonder, dear sister—what gift is God giving you in the hardships you are facing right now? What can you find gratitude for in the midst of this difficulty? Because while the cross is hard and heavy, He is still good. 

Even in this. 

*From optional readings for Thanksgiving Day in the United States.