For Joe Rutland, when miracles happen, finding gratitude isn’t difficult. He just has to see them first.
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Tough times, and how they are handled, provide a realistic measure of a man’s heart.
You would have a really difficult time telling me to not feel thankful and grateful this Thanksgiving. Believe me, there have been plenty of times like this holiday where the last stinking thing I wanted to do was feel, well, anything.
Especially gratitude. Blech.
But that’s not the case this year. Oh man, the places I have been and the people that have helped me … well, I call it miracles. Some people will call it luck or happenstance. Miracles, though, are blessed surprises that pop up out of the blue.
This Thanksgiving is no ordinary day. Oh no, it has been much worse and not that long ago either.
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A lot of times, holidays – Thanksgiving and Christmas, to the point – have not been happy ones. Drama, anxiety, accidents, medical emergencies, etc., have littered these days in the past. I think it is about time to have a great Thanksgiving.
This holiday is truly special because it was just a mere five-plus months ago that I was evicted from my home in Arizona. Two nights in a hotel room led to someone absolutely going on trust and, well, faith to allow me space in their home. Another person stepped up and let me stay in his place for nearly two weeks. During that time, I’d interviewed for a position in the Grand Canyon State … only to see that come up empty.
In that time, man, I prayed my ass off a lot. Don’t mind admitting it here.
To me, there was a singular turning point (after many turning points strung together, in hindsight).
Sitting in a Phoenix area parking lot on a Sunday afternoon, I had my journal with me and simply wrote down, in essence, that I surrendered all attachment around having to stay in Arizona. Yes, I did want to stay there but I was willing to let go of the need to stay there. Even opening myself up to heading back to Texas was part of that process. Two days later, I got a phone call about a job back in Texas. I followed my gut intuition and took it. With not many belongings in hand, I drove back and landed in Austin … for a fourth time. A friend of mine let me spend a night with him, and another allowed me to stay at him and his wife’s home for two months. Ultimately, I found another place to move to that was within my financial means.
Oh, the financial life. Yeah, that’s gotten a lot better too. I have had the opportunity to work a lot since getting back here (workaholism, yes), but I have definitely made inroads on the debt that seemed to linger around me like a bad stench.
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The people who have stretched out their hands and hearts are superstars in my book. There is absolutely no way that I would be where I am this Thanksgiving without their love, care and support. If you would have told me back in June, on that first night in a hotel room looking out at Camelback Mountain, that my life would be this way in November, then I would have called you a little tipsy.
Yet it’s turned out better than I could have even planned and, well, it is continuing to get better and better.
I definitely have a grateful heart and soul this Thanksgiving. There are physical and emotional stretches that I’ve had the courage to make. It is really easy to get caught up in the wind storm of negativity and let it beat you down.
But if you are a man like me, then you come to realize that maintaining a semblance of peace and hope in the midst of hell can parlay into, yes, miracles.
Now there are some men and women who are facing a difficult Thanksgiving. They do not want to hear about good times or how someone’s life turned around in so short a time span. No, they are lost in the swamp and see no way out. My heart goes out to you. I can commiserate with you.
This Thanksgiving season, though, I am walking over the bridge from fear and destitution to faith and abundance. It’s not hard to be filled with love and gratitude when life’s magical wand taps me on the head.
Find something, even the fact that you have two eyes open to read and see, to feel grateful for this time of the year. You better watch out, though. Gratitude can become contageous.
Photo: Flickr/Jeroen van Abeelen