Welcome to The Wildroot Parables weekly discussions! This is where we can come together as a community and have real talk with one another: open, honest, gracious, and curious.
This is YOUR space to discuss with each other, not just engage with me! Because of this, SAFE SHARING is my highest priority. If you are not engaging safely and with grace with others, you will have to leave. Period.
Thank you for entering this space with care!
On Monday, our devotional centered around thanksgiving as a daily posture of the heart, something God’s creatures seem to do effortlessly. But it’s easy to be thankful for the things we deem “good” in our lives, what we often call blessings.
Our question today is: what is the most unlikely thing in your life that you are thankful for? The thing no one would guess? The thing that seems difficult, strange, or entirely mundane?
It would be no surprise to say that I am thankful for my son’s current stint in a long-term rehabilitation program (6 months sober tomorrow!), but what *is* weird is that I am thankful for his addiction. Sure, four years of watching your child struggle and wondering every day if he was going to OD was hell, but he has grown so much because of what he has been through. At almost-21, he has a clarity I couldn’t imagine until I was nearly 30.
Grief. I’m well-acquainted with grief, but grief has taught me so much. I am wiser, and my priorities are regularly evaluated. Life has a depth, and I have an appreciation for life I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for grief.
It would be no surprise to say that I am thankful for my son’s current stint in a long-term rehabilitation program (6 months sober tomorrow!), but what *is* weird is that I am thankful for his addiction. Sure, four years of watching your child struggle and wondering every day if he was going to OD was hell, but he has grown so much because of what he has been through. At almost-21, he has a clarity I couldn’t imagine until I was nearly 30.
Grief. I’m well-acquainted with grief, but grief has taught me so much. I am wiser, and my priorities are regularly evaluated. Life has a depth, and I have an appreciation for life I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for grief.