Praising God in difficult times

It’s not very often that little ol’ Rhode Island makes the national spotlight, but if you followed last week’s news you learned about the devastating floods throughout our state. It’s ironic: in the past, when I’ve heard about floods occurring in different parts of the country, I’ve always thought, “Thank God nothing like that could ever happen around here.” A lot of Rhode Islanders probably thought that way until last week, for we’d not experienced anything like this in our collective lifetime.

Major roads are still closed, bridges are compromised, even one of the malls will take weeks, if not months, to reopen. Many people lost just about everything in their homes. My hometown of Westerly was particularly hard hit. Parts of town which had been accessible by main roads are now only accessible by boat.

I was home for Easter weekend and the flood was the topic of conversation everywhere I went. It dominated table conversations at the Cooked Goose, my favorite breakfast place in beautiful Watch Hill. Many people were talking about it after Mass on Easter morning. The Najim home, always filled with animated conversation on Sunday afternoons, was filled with refrains of disbelief and chatter about who we know that had been affected. My father, who is generally quiet after grace before meals, added his own petition: pray for all those affected by this flood. My sister had to leave Easter dinner for about half an hour to lend a family friend a dehumidifier, one of six that was running in their waterlogged basement.

Yet as much as the flood dominated conversations, there was a constant refrain that I heard in all these discussions: Gratitude.
• “Thank God no one died.”
• “Thank God we still have our family.”
• “Thank God. It could have been much worse.”
• “Thank God for good friends and family and church communities who are helping.”
• “We lost a lot, but thankfully we still have one another.”

I’ve written about gratitude before, but it’s a topic that’s always worth revisiting. When we’re going through difficulties it’s important to remember that there are always blessings for which we can be grateful. Even on our worst day, we can find something or someone to thank the Lord for. True, sometimes we feel we need to look really hard to find that blessing, but THERE ARE DAILY BLESSINGS!

St. Ignatius of Loyola suggested that we begin our daily examen prayer by noting the gifts that God has given us and thanking Him for those gifts. The reason is that gratitude has a way of lifting our spirits, of taking the focus off of ourselves and putting it on all the ways that God is revealing His love to us right now. Even recent psychological studies have shown that people who regularly practice gratitude are happier and more optimistic. Case in point is the recent popularity of keeping a Gratitude Journal

I love the song “Praise You in the Storm” by the group Casting Crowns. Although many people are hurting from the floods, there are many who are “praising Him in the storm.” We can do the same. If you have a tendency to focus on what’s going wrong, if you are going through a difficult time right now, praise Him in the storm.

I want to challenge you to consciously set time aside to focus on gratitude and NOTHING ELSE. You can focus on your problem later if you’d like, but set ten to fifteen minutes aside and literally write down everything that you want to thank God for–and then let that list soak in. You will be amazed as you catalogue all the ways God has blessed you.

After you do this exercise, make it a habit to practice gratitude daily. If you do, you will literally see your life change.

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