There is a form of therapy called Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). This therapy focuses on the practice of holding two seemingly opposite truths at the same time and replacing “either/or” thinking with “both/and” thinking. For instance, I have heard a lot of people talk about how it should be a joyful thing to celebrate the 250 years of our country, but it feels tainted. Two things are true here. One, our country is celebrating 250 years and is worth celebrating. Two, our country is currently in distress and is far from the country we believe it can be. But let’s take a moment and see how we can walk this difficult path together.
The Psalms are full of this very same tension that we are feeling today. The Psalmist often has a question or a concern that they are raising before God, yet they also often raise up praises and joys before God. Our relationship with God can be, and often is, mysterious and confusing. Yet we, also in our faith and love of God, see the wonder and promises of who God is. There are two truths that we can hold at the same time. And in holding these two truths, we find a balance that keeps God personal and relational to us but also inhumanly divine and all powerful. One of the tactics the Psalmist seems to employ the most when in great tension is gratitude. Being grateful for things and at the same time recognizing some other things need to change does not take away from the urgency or seriousness of what needs to be done. What being grateful does, is helps to keep a balance within our hearts to be able to do those difficult things that need to be done.
Let’s practice this together. I am grateful to be able to sit on my porch and write this message on my iPad that is fully charged while appreciating the beauty of the summer season, the sounds of the birds, the people walking past saying hello, and a fan blowing in my face. I am grateful to be sitting next door to the place I get to call work. I am grateful that I am a part of a country that has fought for many rights and freedoms for its women and that the United Methodist Church is celebrating 70 years of full ordination rights for women. I could at this point digress and talk about all the work that still needs to be done and all the ways that women are still not seen as equals or are facing oppression. But to jump to that place too soon would cause my heart and mind to slip into weariness and overwhelm. Pausing and being grateful for what I have and how far we have come gives me the hope I need to press on during those difficult times. Holding the understanding that change has happened, and can happen, helps to strengthen my resolve when it is slipping. Gratitude is a powerful tool that can lead us to stay still for a moment, gather ourselves in, and then press on in a more efficient way that is fruitful in the end.
I am grateful to be celebrating 250 years of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and thus freedom from a tyrannical government. I am grateful for those who fought to keep us free. I am also grateful for all those who stand together and push back on a tyrannical government from rising up within our own midst all these years later. I hope you will join me in being grateful and understanding two things can be true at the same time. There really are things here to be grateful for, and yes, we have work to do. Have a happy Fourth of July, full of gratitude, and through it, gain the strength to press on. Amen!
From One Grateful Heart to many others,
Pastor Hannah Loughman
Photo by Kyle MacKenzie