I love to draw. I doodle all the time — on sketch pads, on notebook paper, on scratch sheets, newspapers, duct tape, you name it.
I have a few drawings on my desk at any given time and there’s one that people always comment on. They say things like, “Oh, that’s cool. Did you draw that?”
I always smile and say, “No. A friend drew that.”
It’s a pencil sketch of a raven on a yellow Post-It note that a co-worker did and used to have on his desk. When he moved on to greener pastures, he gave me the drawing because he knew I liked it.
Funny how the only drawing that gets positive feedback regularly is the only one I didn’t draw.
What do I do with that information? How do I, or should I, let it affect me?
People tend to focus on the negative feedback we get, in general, than the positive.
Here are couple of other “negative” examples.
Many years ago, a young lady with whom I was enamored called me and asked my advice on how to ask out a guy. This lady and I were very close friends. I told her to just ask the guy — he’d be flattered and there was no way he’d say no to her. I was sure she was about to ask me to go out with her. She said, “Thanks!” and hung up. Later she called back and told me the guy had said yes and thanks for the advice. Ouch.
I once received a call from someone who had been a teenager in a church where I’d served as youth minister. She told me all about an upcoming event the church was having where they were inviting former staff to return and celebrate what God was doing there.
She told me the now-adult youth were excited to know if their favorite youth minister of all time was going to be there. She then told me that he was, and asked if I could come, too.
Double ouch.
I wince a little thinking of those things, yes, but not much.
About a month after the no-date occurrence, that young lady and I were dating and had a long relationship.
A few years after the not-their-favorite-youth-minister-of-all-time phone call, the same woman called to talk to me about what was going on in her life, to tell me she prayed for me all the time and to ask me to visit her family to meet her husband and children. It was a great conversation, and a great visit.
And a lot of sketches I create that I think have absolutely no merit are regularly praised by people important to me.
So it all more than balances out.
The point is that I should be grateful for everything — good, bad or anything in-between — because It could be an opportunity to be grateful for what happened or didn’t happen, grateful for praise or humility, learning to be content with what I have rather than envious for things I don’t.
This week, Lord willing, the majority of my family will be gathered together for a few hours to be thankful together. We’ll share food, laughs, hugs and stories, and talk about how good God has been to us.
I hope you’ll take this Thanksgiving as an opportunity to do the same. No matter how others have treated you, no matter how much you have, no matter if you’re with lots of other people or alone — you can find a reason to be grateful.
I know I can.
