“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, green bean casserole, pea salad (Grandpa’s favorite!), cranberries and rolls until we are stuffed! But my husband says there’s always room for dessert. So, bring on my daughter-in-law’s homemade pumpkin pie with whipped cream! We miss our family far-away who can’t be here, but we go around the table and all say what we give thanks for this year. We tend to focus on being thankful and grateful during this season. But thankful and grateful should be our posture throughout every season of our year and of our life! Seasons of hardship and trial are part of life, but if we are intentional, we can find something to be thankful and grateful for even in the difficult times.

 “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NLT)

We love all of the beautiful things that God has made in creation and in our lives, and it’s easy to be thankful for them. But this promise shows us that even our ugly, hard times will become beautiful as God works through them. When we recognize that our life is just a tiny seed planted into eternity, and that God’s plans are so immense that our finite brains can’t understand or perceive all that He is doing, we can thank Him by faith for the beauty He will bring from the ashes.

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!… For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”  Romans 11:33, 36

I have found that after I have gone through a trial, I can look back, and see the riches of wisdom and knowledge God has worked in me through it, and I am thankful for that. But the challenge is: choosing to be thankful while we are in the midst of the trial. When everything looks bleak, and we can’t see anything beautiful, we can be the treasure hunter, looking for the riches of beauty hidden in the midst of the ugly.

What can you be thankful for today?