Defeat the Dark

Daily Gratitude Year 7 - Day 39: Today, I am grateful we can defeat the dark.

Anyone else thinking about lightsabers and hearing a Darth Vader voice? 

Choosing our attitudes is our greatest super power. The complain train rarely leads  anywhere but a train wrecked day. 

"You defeat the dark when thanksgiving is your default." -Ann Voskamp

Ann Voskamp is a wordmaster. Like the big box of crayons, she knows how to color her thoughts with well chosen words. This quote is simple, but it has great power. Can thanksgiving defeat darkness or did she miss the mark? Oh, I think she is right on target. 

Dark and light cannot co-exist. Light always dispels and destroys the dark. One little match lit or candle can change everything. Gratitude pours light into our troubles. It helps our eyes refocus. There are days we simply have to set our gratitude course for getting through "this day". 

"Give us this day, our daily bread." - Matthew 6:11

When we try to take on more than today's hard stuff, we are defeated in our heads before we walk out the door. Jesus reminds us that we only need enough courage, nourishment and strength for this day. Can we trust him for that? Of course, we can. 

There are many ways to shed light into our dark and defeat it. Personalities differ. What does it for me, may not do it for you. I need to throw gratitude like confetti until it is sprinkled on everything. Light coruscates from it. Attitudes are altered and strength grows. 

"If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." -1 John 1:6-8

It is a daily walk and a fervent (and at times tearful) talk with Him that makes all the difference. We can't always change our circumstances, but we can change how we respond to them. We can learn to trust and obey. Jesus was obedient. 

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. -Philippians 2:8

In the light and victory of the cross, we can defeat our dark days. I all things we can give thanks. 

Today, I am grateful we can defeat the dark.