Cultivate thankfulness

Colossians 3: 15-17
Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ--the Message--have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God. Let every detail in your lives--words, actions, whatever--be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking the Father every step of the way.

I keep seeing signs that we are in the season of Thanksgiving, but I am having a difficult time feeling thankful. I know that I could make a list of things to be thankful for in my life, and it would be long. At the top of that list would be my family. I was blessed to be born into a wonderful family and to marry into a wonderful family, and I have been blessed with healthy, happy children. I am thankful for my relationship with Christ, a good marriage, a good job, wonderful friends, my health, a great church--so many blessings. However, right now all I can think about is facing this holiday season without Jason. That outweighs everything else. Someday I will be able to thank God for the years of Jason's life, not yet, someday.
In the meantime I will try to take the words of these verses to heart. I keep thinking about Jimmy's message at the funeral. He told us to let music comfort us. I have learned that there are certain songs that can bring me to tears of sadness, but there are also songs that bring me joy, laughter, and wonderful memories. Jason loved to sing and always sang along with the radio in the car--I'm talking always. When he was a little boy and last year when he went anywhere with me, he was always singing.
When he was in fourth grade, he came home one day and told me he was going to be in his class play. He was going to play a farmer and needed overalls, a flannel shirt, a straw hat, etc. According to him it was no big deal. The morning of the play they performed for the other grade school classes, and the teachers kept coming to me and telling me about what a great job Jason did in the play. I then went to his classroom to find out about his role and discovered that he had the lead and was singing several solos. I had to get on the phone to his grandparents and aunts to tell them to come up that night for the evening performance. He was wonderful-not the least bit nervous. He also sang at church when he was little. My favorite song was called "God Loves to talk to Little Boys While They're Fishin."
I hear stories of karaoke nights in Stillwater, and Jason would partner up with someone and sing. So I'm going to begin cultivating thankfulness by thanking the Father for music. Jason is now singing praises to God in perfect harmony.