Photo by Jackson Blackhurst on Unsplash
This was written for my school’s Middle School chapel in October of 2021, right after Canadian Thanksgiving. For context: I teach in a faith-based school, which is a privilege I both treasure and take very seriously. Sometimes, as a classroom teacher, I get the opportunity to share there and I love it. I came across this piece that I wrote some time ago and figured now was another good time to recall and share this. I left it just as it was when I wrote it for an audience of 11-13 year olds, so enjoy.
I want to do something a little different for chapel today. I want to read out a story for you. It’s a story that could be about anyone or everyone. Try and imagine it in your head as we go along. Here we go:
One Small Step
You’re stepping through a forest, your feet snapping tiny twigs and flattening dry leaves. You can’t see very far in front of you because it’s actually pretty misty. In fact, when you bring your hand above your eyes to shade them from the sun to squint, you find it’s pretty pointless, because the sun’s barely coming through this fog.
See, you’ve been walking around this foggy forest grove trying to find your way out of it. You’ve been stuck in it for a while now – ever since you walked into it some time ago. Actually, now that you think of it, the only reason you even noticed the fog and the forest was because you were staring down at your shoes as you were walking along the well-worn dirt path you were travelling. You had noticed the mist trickling along the ground amidst your feet, and it drew your attention off to the side. You saw it gathering and stirring in between the trees, and found it curious.
You remember turning your head back to look at the path you were on, bringing your hand up to shade your eyes. The sun was so bright then. In fact, it was rather annoying at the time. Your shoulders had bristled and itched with frustration. You wanted to get out of the sun for a while, and you felt like the coolness of the mist would be a nice break. Then a thought popped into your head: Besides, it’s just for a little bit. The sun will still be here when you get back…
You nodded to yourself in agreement. You turned your head to start moving towards the mist-covered forest, but something caught your eye. On the other side of the path, you saw a nice, rather huge tree with large sections of root bursting through the dirt. It had looked like the perfect place to plop down, lean back and take a break in some cool shade, while still being right close by.
Your head turned back to the misty forest, then swivelled back to the shade-giving tree. You had this feeling, this unexplainable sense deep within you that you should probably just stick to this tree near the path…but seeing that mysterious mist made you curious. It made you wonder what was beyond it. It made your thoughts feel good.
You recalled heading towards the forest and shaking your head free of anything else. Your heart started beating slightly faster as you walked closer to it, though there was something still and small within you that seemed to say, Wait. But you didn’t.
Why should you have to? There was nothing wrong with taking a little detour, and exploring. After all, everyone seems to think so much of new experiences. Yet, there was still something that felt uncomfortable, but you weren’t sure what. You had stopped, rolled your eyes and shook your head again. You think to yourself, That’s just because of what I’ve heard other people say. They’ve never actually been here. They don’t know…
You mind draws back to being currently lost in that misty forest and you groan deeply, still trying to figure out where the exit is. You remember thinking, I’ll just quickly duck in, do some exploring, and be out again in five. Needless to say, it’s been much longer than five minutes, and you’re quickly getting tired of wandering around in the same circles, passing the same damp, mossy trees. Earlier the bright sun felt a little too obnoxious, but now you find yourself impatient to get back to that large tree with dry shade surrounded by grassy, sunny fields. Man, they were perfect for lying down and taking a break, you think.
You shake your head and sigh, looking around and seeing the same formless grey fog covering everything. Still can’t see, you think to yourself. I haven’t been able to see anything good through this fog for ages, you grumble to yourself. You’re still walking across the forest floor, and see what looks like a small, very-kickable rock. You feel like sending it flying might be enjoyable, so you wind up your leg to kick and let it rip.
Turns out that tiny rock was actually just the tip of a boulder sticking up out of the dirt, so now you’re clutching your poor foot in pain. “Stupid rock!” you yell out. The only other sound out there is the sound of your scuffling amidst the dry twigs and crunchy leaves. At this point, you’re kind of hopping around on the spot, waiting for the pain to fade, and trying to keep your balance. Ugh, this day just keeps getting worse! you complain to yourself.
That’s when your foot trips on a root from a huge tree nearby, and your face meets the ground pretty quick. BAM! You thought your foot was in pain before, but this is definitely worse. You feel your eyes stinging with tears, and you pound your fist into the ground in frustration. And again. And again. And again. You keep doing that until your arm tires, and then you just lay there, with your face in the damp dirt.
That’s it, you think. I’ve tried everything to find my way through this, but I can’t. I just can’t. I’m so tired.
If I had more energy, you think to yourself, then I could do something. If only I could see around me better, or if someone had even bothered to make sign posts for this miserable place, then I wouldn’t be in this mess.
You breathe in deeply, and end up getting some dirt in your mouth. Eugh! As you’re spitting it out, you suddenly recall something this random trail guide you bumped into earlier in your journey told you: “When you’re feeling stuck somewhere, first thing you do is hit the dirt and say thank you.” You remember seeing him demonstrate that by dropping down to the ground and taking a knee. He looked up at you then with a small smile, saying, “After all, thankfulness always points you in the right direction.”
Well, you’ve got nothing to lose so you might as well give it a go. After all, you’re tired, hungry, and you just want to get out of there.
You roll over onto your back, and open your mouth to speak. You start with something pretty small, and then wait. You take a breath, and continue to wait. Then, something high up in the sky, behind the fog, seems to shift. So, you speak out another small thing of thankfulness. And another.
You look to the side and it’s almost as if you can see the fog beginning to be pulled further back from you, bit by little bit. Your jaw drops, and immediately you return to laying on the ground, but this time your eyes are closed and your brows are drawn a little closer together in concentration, as you think of more and more things to speak.
The next time you open your eyes, you look around and can actually see multiple trees around you. Heck, you can even see the sun starting to shine in from amidst the tree branches.
You stand up, brushing any dirt off yourself. As you do so, you continue to speak out words of thankfulness, and you’re finding it’s getting easier. In fact, you kind of feel like smiling a bit. You never thought you’d find yourself lost and smiling, yet here you are.
As soon as you right yourself from all the brushing off, you discover you can see much further now. The fog has practically disappeared from around you. It’s there, in the forest, but you have your sense of direction back. You can now see far enough, in fact, to notice that the edge of the forest is quite close by. You shake your head, walk on out of there, noticing not only the twigs and leaves underneath your feet, but also some distant sparrows chirping.
Once you make your way past the last of the trees, you see the path still there, and the sun is indeed still shining, as you knew it would be. That’s when you notice the trail guide from before, seemingly waiting for you. He’s sitting atop one of the rugged roots that are breaking up through the dirt, but he stands when he sees you approaching.
You raise your eyebrows in question as you get closer, wondering what he’s doing there. As you approach, he explains how he saw you head into the foggy forest earlier and decided he’d wait for you. After all, he understands how tricky that place can be.
He hands you a granola bar and your stomach rumbles. He gently laughs, and you grin, taking the snack. He gestures to farther along the path, as if to say, Are you coming?
You join him and as you both start off, you realize once again how much you actually enjoy the sun. To think, just a bit ago you were stuck inside a fog you couldn’t see a way out of. How strange: all it took to make things a little clearer was saying, Thank you.
END OF STORY
So, I realize that people could read into this story a few different ways, but I’d like you to look at it this way today: sometimes we get stuck running around the same circles and we feel like we’re trapped, though sometimes all we need to get unstuck is to look outside ourselves. Sometimes we just need to start thanking God for all the things he has done for us, for all the people he’s placed in our lives, and for all the many things he has given us.
Now, sure, the theme of Thanksgiving is still fresh in our brains, but this idea of finding your way forward through thankfulness and gratitude is something that’s been bouncing around my brain for a while. Bouncy enough, that I had to open it up and let it out!
That’s why I put this story together for today to encourage you all. God has put this idea on my heart for such a time as this, to remind us that when we’re feeling stuck or unsure of how to proceed, try finding something to be thankful for, and then say it! Now, I’m not promising that as soon as you do that, the sun will shine and the birds will chirp. Sure, maybe sometimes it will make that kind of difference. Sometimes it might take a while to kick in. But if nothing else, it’ll change the way you see things around you. It’ll often make things seem just a bit clearer, because honestly, that’s the way that God’s designed it.
Daniel 2:23 says: “I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king.”
God calls us to be thankful, and often. Even when things are tough. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
“Give thanks in ALL circumstances.” So, that means when we’re feeling grumpy, we can still be thankful. When we’re feeling torn up about something, we can be thankful. When we’re feeling anxious about something, we can be thankful – for something. This means that in every situation, we have a choice: to be grumpy or to be thankful. This doesn’t mean we have to have a smile plastered on our face to be thankful; it just means we know where (or who) is the source of our ultimate joy and help. One option is definitely easier than the other many times, and there’ll be days when we don’t win the thankful fight (I know that’s the case for me). But it’s a fight worth fighting.
You know that story in Acts about Paul and Silas being thrown in prison? They were in there for no legitimate reason – which means they kind of had every reason to not be thankful. They were even beaten before getting tossed in there. Yet, they chose to pray and sing praises in that situation. It says, too, that all the other prisoners were watching them.
Then the miraculous happens: an earthquake busts them out of jail (no coincidence, I’ll tell you). They could have left then, but because they stuck around, the jailer who was looking after them (and the jailer’s whole family) ended up getting saved.
So here’s the question: do you think if Paul and Silas chose to give in to grumpiness, that all of that would’ve happened? Do you think the jailer and his family (and likely the prisoners too) would’ve come to know Jesus otherwise? Who knows? Somehow, I think that if they had responded differently, this story may have been very different also.
So, again, you’ve got a choice to make about thankfulness. Some days, you’ll have to make it over and over, and it takes practice. That’s okay! But here’s one way to start practicing: every time you pray, start by thanking God for something. It can be big, it can be simple, it can be general, it can be specific, but start by thanking him. One person told me they even have a thankfulness alarm on their phone, and that when it went off, they paused everything for a moment to be thankful and pray. That ended up changing how they thought a lot.
I’m going to wrap this up here, but let’s do so by practicing that thankfulness now and pray…
Sharing this with Middle School students in our chapel time was really cool. At the time, there were even a couple of students who came to let me know afterwards how neat it was to hear that analogy and that it made a lot of sense to them. I always love opportunities to encourage others, and if they happen to turn into opportunities where I’m encouraged in the process: great! I hope that this, in turn, encourages you.
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