Thankful

It’s not my forte. Sorry, but it’s not. And I’ve been reminded of that only this week. Eleven years ago I leaped like a salmon to head the ball in a football match but landed awkwardly. I was trying to avoid crashing into the opposition player, and I did. I missed him and the ball, but landed awkwardly. I sat on the ground waiting for the pain in my knee, but to my great surprise there wasn’t any.. I got up and gingerly walked about. My knee felt funny but there was no pain. To cut a long story short I got away with it. Soft tissue damage was the verdict at the walk in clinic two days later. Within a few days I was back in the swimming pool. Football took a few months and I went in goal for a few more. But, I was eventually able to do everything I had before. I tweaked it again a couple of years later. Annoying for a while but it recovered. And I’ve been able to do everything I want to. I’m always conscious of it. It’s never been perfect, but I’ve got away with it. Until this week when I tweaked it again. I’m not a good patient. Ask Lisa. I’m not. I’m impatient. I want and expect my knee to recover by the end of the day. It has not done that. So, as I write I’m annoyed my knee isn’t better already, two days after doing whatever I did. And the truth is I don’t know what I did. But I did something. Thing is, an hour after tweaking it, I got on my bike and went for a 20 mile bike ride along the Worth Way, going as fast as the conditions and the people would allow. So it’s not that I can’t do anything. And it doesn’t hurt when I cycle. It hurts when I walk, but not when I cycle. But, and this is the point of this little story, I’ve realised I’m not very thankful. Well, I am thankful that I can cycle. But I have to work hard at that because I tend to focus on all the things I can’t do! If the gym was open I’d be able to go swimming. But I can’t! I can’t run. I can’t play football. I can’t play golf. I couldn’t anyway in the lockdown, but now I doubly can’t. And if I’m not careful, I forget anything I can be thankful for. And I have lots to be thankful for. I really do. As I reflect on lockdown 1 and lockdown 2, I have lots to be thankful for. As I reflect on church and the things we have been able to do over the last few months, I have lots to be thankful for. As I reflect on family life, I have lots to be thankful for. And when I reflect on the truth that God loves me no matter what, I have lots to be thankful for. Paul invites us to pray with thankful hearts. There’s a reason he does that: because we have lots to be thankful for. And, because a thankful heart is more open to whatever it is God is doing. I’m a work in progress, but I know that God will never give up on me, however slow my progress can sometimes be. And I’m really thankful for that.