The picture lay there broken on top of the laundry room counter. The respite worker had clearly placed it there so that it would be out of reach. I’d only just bought this picture, with its inspirational saying, to hang on my kitchen wall as a reminder that even on the hard days “There is always something to be thankful for”. And there it was, lying there with a large section of the wooden frame broken off and the picture insert hanging out. And I found myself laughing for a moment at the irony. I’ve learned over the years to laugh at times like this.

I didn’t have to say anything to the worker. From the look of things it had been a harder session. I wasn’t shocked. It had been a hard week. Autism can look different in every child, and for some the struggle to communicate what they are thinking or feeling can just be too much in the moment, and can lead to a complete and utter melt down. In this case it had resulted in the breaking of a brand new picture.

There have been many casualties over the years at our house: books with pages ripped out of them, wooden floors and walls with dents where something hard had been thrown, TV screens cracked from protests with a remote in hand, dishes and glasses broken after being thrown impulsively to the ground, and pictures taken forcefully off the wall causing damage to the frames. Because of this we’ve gotten good at proactively setting up the environment so that, as much as possible, on the hard days this doesn’t happen. Books are read aloud rather than handled, items that can be thrown and cause damage are locked away into an assigned cabinet or drawer, the TV has a large screen protector, our dishes and cups are now made of plastic or paper, and pictures are securely screwed into the studs of the walls.

But this picture was brand new and I hadn’t had time for all of that. I had placed it there on the wall in haste that week, because I simply wanted to look at it and find encouragement. I didn’t want to take the time to get out the drill and secure it to the wall. I just wanted to look at it and be reminded. Reminded of the truth that even on hard days “There’s always something to be thankful for”.

The Bible has allot to say about “Thankfulness”. There are the verses that describe thankfulness in moments of pure joy and celebration like Psalm 100:4 which says, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name” and Psalm 9:1 where David exclaims, “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds”. There are also those verses that talk of thankfulness in a really practical rubber meets the road of life kind of way, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). And then there are those verses on thankfulness that can challenge us to our core, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). 

We see this last kind of thankfulness allot in the lives of those written about in the Bible. In the Old Testament it tells us that, even with a death threat hanging over Daniel if he dared bow down to God instead of the king, he went into his room and did what he had always done. He got down on his knees and prayed “giving thanks to his God” (Daniel 6:10). In the New Testament it tell us that, while Paul was actually in prison, he wrote of thankfulness and joy in the midst of suffering. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). Jesus himself, knowing that he was about to be arrested and crucified, went to an upper room with his disciples to have one last supper, and gave thanks to God before breaking bread and taking the communion cup (Matthew 26:26,27). 

These stories are inspiring and also challenging. It isn’t always easy to be thankful especially when under pressure. In fact it can be a serious struggle. I don’t know about you, but its sometimes really hard for me to have any kind of attitude of gratitude on days when things seem to be totally falling apart. But God isn’t asking us to be thankful only when life is easy. It’s clear He is calling us to something more. He is asking us to be thankful in ALL circumstances, even in the hard times. 

Why would God want us to be thankful even in the hard times? “Why?” is a big question, but it’s one I’ve definitely asked God many times on this journey, and it’s one that I’m convinced God does not look down on or shrink away from. We only need to look at the Psalms for proof of that. So why would God want us to be thankful even when the circumstances of life are difficult? To begin to answer this question we first need to know that God is good and that He loves us very much (Psalm 106:1). So if it is His will for us to be thankful in all circumstances, we know that we can trust Him in this. We also need to know that God has many reasons for allowing and directing things in our lives. Often there is not just one answer to the why question for each situation. We will be looking at just one of those answers here. The Bible says that, “every good and perfect gifts comes down from (God)” (James 1:17). When we find ourselves in difficult circumstances and we chose to exercise thankfulness in the middle of it; we often find that God blesses us in that moment with the gift of His peace. And the peace that He gives isn’t just some light weight short lived endorphin driven good feeling. It is His perfect peace that can surpass all human understanding, and a peace that will guard our hearts and minds in the midst of what we’re going through so that we can rise above our circumstances (John 14:27, Philippians 4:7). This is what He knows a heart of thankfulness will bring. The gift of His peace. And oh how we need that in order to live this life. So yes I believe that “There is always something to be thankful for”.