"My goal in life is to be thankful for all of this"

Richard Lawrence Cohen, a writer of perception and beauty, has a post of incredible honesty. There are some rough places in the narrative, describing the rough places through which his life has passed. But you will be treated to the reflections of a man still searching for the transcendent...and something else.

The apostle Paul once encouraged a group of Christians to "be thankful in all circumstances." Note Paul didn't say to be thankful for all circumstances. Only a masochist would be thankful for pain or tragedy. But it is possible to be thankful in all circumstances, to, in Richard's phrase be the "zebra baring his neck to the lions" and somehow in the midst of that experience, find things for which to be thankful. It's even possible to be thankful for all that we learn in the difficult and painful experiences of life.

Speaking for myself, it's in those places of desperate vulnerability that I most clearly sense God's presence. Devoid of any capacity to prevent the pain, I run through the thistles while crying out to God. I find Him to always be there. But then, you'd expect nothing less from a God Who Himself became human and suffered on a cross to be one with us, then rose from the dead to be our Lord and Advocate for all eternity.

Read Richard's post. Happy Thanksgiving!