A couple years ago Think-Biblically published a short series on getting through tough times. In the second article we uncovered three items that constituted a process for getting through the messes life brings: Rejoice, trust Jesus and live as a citizen of heaven rather than earth. This isn’t all saint Paul has to say on the matter, however. In his letter to the Colossians he gives us a discipline to help us prepare for the hard times that eventually come to everyone. What is that discipline? Cultivating peace and gratitude.

Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body to this peace), and be thankful. – Colossians 3.15

Some of our readers may be too young to know about baseball legend Lou Gehrig. Born in 1903 he played 17 seasons with the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1941. A first baseman and talented hitter (he had a career .340 batting average) he hit 493 home runs. His life and his career was cut short when he was diagnosed with ALS, today called Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He died only two years after his retirement from the MLB, his muscles having deteriorated to the point that his heart eventually stopped beating. How did he respond to the news that his life was nearly over? An old black-and-white news clip taken on his last day of play reveals a grateful heart. He began with these words:

“Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”

How could a man who just received such awful news, who was facing the end of everything he had lived for, say such a thing? He had cultivated thankfulness throughout his life. He had an immense gratitude for all the gifts he had been given, for all the love he had been shown by fans, for all the opportunities he had. He focused on the joys not the losses. I’m certain that if we could interview him today we would discover this wasn’t a recent development in his life. He cultivated this attitude of thankfulness for years. Being thankful isn’t something that comes easy, so how did he manage to cultivate this attitude that saw him successfully through 40 years of life? He worked at it.

Our natural reaction to difficulty is to descend into chaos and despair. To cultivate any positive reaction takes work and involves self-discipline and consistency. It requires that you nourish that attitude and starve the natural reaction process. Lou Gehrig did what it took to make gratitude thrive in his life and this practice enabled him to face life’s most difficult challenge: death. We can do the same.

Not only can we do the same, Paul challenges us to do so. For the practicing Christian this process is still hard work, but is made easier through the peace of Christ. Again, the natural reaction of man to this kind of devastating news is depression and anger but by drawing near to God we can overcome this initial response. We can know peace in the turmoil of hard times. In that peace we gain perspective, and with perspective comes remembrance of all the gifts God has given us, all the times that he has faithfully cared for us, and all the troubles he has guided us through.

“A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves” -- Henry Ward Beecher

Gratitude comes from humility. God is good and merciful. The price that Christ paid so that you could be redeemed is immense. His amazing grace makes you the luckiest person on the face of the earth!

To read the first article on Hard Times click here: http://think-biblically.com/10-lucubrations/53-tough-times

To read the second article on Hard Times click here: http://think-biblically.com/10-lucubrations/54-tough-times-ii