Mini: The Gratitude Gauntlet
260 | “No Way To Be Grateful”
Train Your Heart to Be Thankful
Happy Thanksgiving, Bible Geeks! In this special holiday Mini, we're taking a break from the turkey and pie to play a game we call the "Gratitude Gauntlet." The rules are simple: we throw disaster scenarios at each other — from dry turkeys and family drama to crushing sports defeats — and challenge each other to find the hidden blessing in the mess.Can you find gratitude when your favorite team gets obliterated or you're stuck working on the holiday? We also get real about the deeper things we're thankful for this year, like the "no" answers from God that turned into blessings and the joy of watching our kids grow up. Join us for a bite-sized dose of encouragement to help you "give thanks in all circumstances".
Takeaways
The Big Idea: True, biblical gratitude isn't just a feeling reserved for big blessings — it's a spiritual muscle we can train to find God's grace and goodness even in the middle of everyday frustrations.
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Introduction and Thanksgiving Greetings
Bryan: There's no way to be grateful for that. It's impossible. There's no humanly possible way to be grateful for a lack of coffee. Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Bible Geeks podcast. I'm Bryan
Ryan: I'm Ryan Joy.
Bryan: Schiele. Thanks so much everyone for tuning in. Happy Thanksgiving. Whether you're in the kitchen or you're in the car or you're hiding away from your relatives, we're getting real here today. We're so glad that you're here.
The Gratitude Gauntlet Game Begins
Ryan: Today, we've got another Bible Geeks mini-episode, inspired by those little moments of difficulty we all face. The challenge of being thankful when life can feel repetitive, or frustrating, or difficult.
Bryan: so with this bite-sized Bible insight, we're about to go and play a little game of our own and putting this gratitude that we're talking about to the test. Welcome to the Gratitude
Bryan: Gauntlet. Are you ready for it, Ryan?
Ryan: laughs] Bring it. This is so serious.
Bryan: Yeah. Well, first of all, Happy Thanksgiving, by the way. This
Ryan: Happy Thanksgiving!
Bryan: this is one of these days where, you know, my natural person just wants to talk about anything else besides Thanksgiving or gratitude because that's what we always talk about. But you know, let's just lean into it hard with this mini and play a game around gratitude.
Here's the rules. You and I are gonna go back and forth presenting a situation, a scenario that each of us has to deal with, and the other person has to find gratitude in it. It's pretty simple. Do you have some scenarios on the ready that you can throw at me?
Ryan: got 'em.
Bryan: All right. So let me kick this thing off.
Gratitude in Everyday Challenges
Bryan: First of all, Ryan, there's a disaster happening in your house right now. I don't know if you knew that, but if you look around, you've been cooking for five hours. You have the most amazing turkey on the platter, and it is coming out to the table where all of your smiling, happy family with no drama are all sitting there waiting.
And as you go to cut it open, like that scene in Christmas Vacation, it just bursts open completely dry like the Sahara Desert. Find the gratitude in that.
Ryan: I had that exact one, by the way, for you. [laughs] Uh, yeah. uh, as we--as we open it up, there's dry turkey, which, uh, I would never allow to happen. But, uh, [ But, "Do we have gravy?" would be the first thing. And I would say, "You know what? Be thankful. You've got gravy to pour on that. My wife's gravy is amazing. And so we can save this turkey with appropriate amount of gravy. Of course, we can be grateful that we even have such a feast to enjoy. If it's edible, that's great." Um, and, um, my kids would be like, "If it's not edible, I am so thankful," several of my kids, "that I don't have to eat turkey because they don't like turkey." [laughs] They're like--they make this huge deal about, like, " I will eat turkey on Thanksgiving, but only because it's Thanksgiving. Otherwise,
Bryan: with turkey?
Ryan: man. I--they are crazy
Bryan: I agree with you.
Ryan: also, dry turkey still works well with leftovers with some Miracle Whip on a sandwich. So that's another thing to be thankful for.
So there's some gratitudes for
Bryan: I think you did a great job. Good one. Okay. Oh yes. Not good.
Ryan: All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So I'll skip-- I had the turkey dry and the yams burnt and several other things going on with the meal, but I'll just skip that and get to a way more serious crisis in the Bryan Schiele household, which is somehow on a day that the stores are closed, you are out of coffee beans. There's no coffee in the house.
Bryan: you serious?
Ryan: Yeah. I don't know how it happened. It's just a fluke, but somehow a lot was going on, and there's no coffee for you today.
Bryan: There's no way to be grateful for that. It's impossible. There's no humanly possible way to be grateful for a lack of coffee. And
Ryan: [Laughter]
Bryan: to that statement, I will now have to take a sip of my coffee here in a second. But I... Okay. So I'm thinking, do I have tea on hand? Maybe that's an opportunity to brew up some really good tea that we have.
And you know, my wife is a big fan of tea anyway, so she actually doesn't love coffee all that much. So maybe this is more of an opportunity for me to serve my wife in a way I might not normally by making her tea, making the whole family tea in some fancy fashion that I might not normally do because I'm usually too focused on my own coffee.
Boy, that's a rough one, man. I don't think I did a great job at that, but like I'll
Ryan: No, I think you did. You pulled it back. You made it into service. You transitioned and turned to others, and that could be a really rich moment for you and Sherrilyn to share in that.
Bryan: All right. Okay. So here we go.
Finding Thanks in Family Drama
Bryan: You're trying to enjoy the day, but your phone is blowing up and there's some like text thread going on between you and all of your extended family about who was supposed to bring the green bean casserole. Find the thanks in that because they just won't leave you alone.
They keep talking about it and it's just confusing. It's drama all surrounding the green bean casserole.
Ryan: Is this a meal that I am part of or I'm just in the thread, but I'm actually in Indiana, they're in Arizona or something like that's
Bryan: No, no. They're showing up to your house and somebody forgot to
Ryan: So everybody, they forgot the green bean casserole. I mean, it's an opportunity to to bring some perspective, to show love. There is no greater mercy than I forgive you for forgetting the green bean casserole.
[Laughter]
Bryan: mercy. I think that's in the Bible somewhere. Yeah.
Ryan: it's somewhere. Yeah. And so, yeah, it's an opportunity, and so I think I could find gratitude for that. And, you know, like, this is not a biblical kind of a great attitude, but it's probably going to make my banana, sweet potato, and pecan casserole more the star of the show, as it should be,
Bryan: That's not exactly gratitude there, my friend.
Ryan: that's-- no way. But I'm grateful for how much people are going to love my-- [Laughter] Yeah, I diverted the opposite direction of your service mindset into put myself in the spotlight. Yeah, the game took a dark turn there,
Bryan: think
Ryan: I'm going to take-- I'm going to go back to my-- it's an opportunity to just say, "Hey, it's okay, guys.
Look at all that we do have, and let's be grateful for
Bryan: Yeah. So demonstrating a more easygoing mindset while also being super stoked that
Ryan: [Laughter]
Bryan: your other dish will be the star. I gotcha.
Ryan: Yeah, yeah, okay.
Work and Holiday Struggles
Ryan: Well, a little bit heavier even is, because of some things that are happening in the testing that you were doing and some deadlines you have, they have asked you-- double pay or whatever-- they've asked you to work through the Thanksgiving holiday. And so you're out of town. You're in New Jersey or somewhere, dealing with all the stuff you deal with, some kind of a military contract or something, and you're working through it, and your family is-- you know, they're sending you pictures.
"Hey, we love you. We miss you. Here's the meal we're having," and you're like, "Great, I got a turkey sandwich in the car somewhere, I think." But you're having to-- like, it's headache after headache, and you're not with your family on
Bryan: Wow. Yeah. That's probably the perfect storm right there. I think what you're describing is like the real-life scenario for a lot of people I know who wind up, yeah, having to work Thanksgiving for whatever reason. You know, they're doing the Black Friday shopping thing like behind the counter instead of in front of the counter.
All of that's probably very real for people listening right now, but I don't know. I think for me, I'm gonna be grateful that I have the opportunity to serve in the capacity I do at my job and to do the best work that I can there. You know, even understanding that it's just a day like maybe every other day is and you know to hopefully find opportunities to, you know, eat something good or to just enjoy a little moment of the day kind of, you know, carved away, but maybe just maybe just focusing more on how I can do the best at the job that I'm currently asked to do. It's gonna be a struggle for me probably real time to like actually maintain a positive attitude about it, but yeah, maybe just faking it till I make it in that case. I don't know.
Ryan: Yeah, I mean, I like where you went there of, "Hey, I have a job. I am providing for my family. My family is able to enjoy this abundance because God has provided me with this work." So I like that. I think that's a great way to give thanks in all circumstances
Bryan: so I'm gonna bring a serious one on to you now just to close this thing out.
Ryan: Okay.
Sports Disappointments and Perspective
Bryan: So your favorite football team, I don't know who it is. Couldn't even begin to guess who your favorite football team is, but they're playing they are just getting obliterated. Sorry. It's not even halftime yet and just the game is a total embarrassment.
Go.
Ryan: This is all too real. This is all too real for anyone who knows about the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry and the fact that Ohio State, on Thanksgiving weekend-- not on Thanksgiving day, but Saturday after Thanksgiving-- has lost four times in a row. And it has affected me more than it should have. Like, that was like a heart check of, "What am I doing here that I've got, you know, an opportunity to be with family or whatever?" And I am this disappointed and frustrated. And so what-- You know, the cool thing, though, about even something that, let's be honest, that's actually dumb to be affected by, of course, but it's affecting you, and you're like-- whatever it is, you know, certainly other people have real things that, you know-- and occasionally we have had real heavy things on a Thanksgiving weekend.
we could talk about that some, too, but to get real-- but even that, even just like, "Oh, man, I can't believe that happened again. I'm so disappointed." And what I do-- I mean, I've done it several years in a row-- is I go for a walk, and we have this path that goes through the woods. And I don't know if you can see it already behind me, but by Thanksgiving, the fall leaves are beautiful. And whenever you have those real moments, though, whenever you're, like-- whenever you're shaken or you're disappointed or you're frustrated, something is down.
There is this opportunity to shift perspective and all the more start listing your-- "Count your blessings" kind of thing.
Bryan: Right.
Ryan: And then, you know, so I'm not thankful for anything about Michigan beating Ohio State, but in that circumstances-- it doesn't say, "Give thanks for all things." It says, "Give thanks in all things."
And in that circumstance, I find actually that much more opportunity to give thanks for all of the amazing real things that are good in my life, which are too many to count. So, it's-- yeah. [laughing] Go ahead.
Bryan: It's very good. Now I think I think you're on the right track, right? Go outside, take a walk, take a breath, enjoy nature that God has created for you. You know, remember first Thessalonians five, rejoice always pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances. I think that's helpful.
Reflecting on Personal Gratitude
Bryan: Maybe let's kind of move from this lighthearted back and forth to maybe something a little bit more serious.
Maybe a sincere thing. What are what are you actually grateful for this year in a deeper way? You were just talking for a little bit, so I'll jump in with mine.
Ryan: yeah, please.
Bryan: I think for me, if I had to think about something I've been grateful for this year, it's actually something that happened a few years back. Where I was chasing this opportunity at our church to be more involved in certain aspects.
And I was really like just I thought this would be the next step for me and in my service there. And I got a pretty hard no. Not now, not you. No answer to to kind of some of the things I was asking to do and be involved in. And at the time, boy, like it just felt like a sting. It felt like I had just kind of lost a whole bunch of motivation.
And that closed door, I think just really I'm seeing it now for the first time in a long time. That closed door opened up so many other opportunities that were far better than what I could have even imagined. I mean, I've been able to serve a small congregation that I never would have had the time to to think about working with in that time.
I've had opportunities now recently to take on some new work at the church that I'm at. And so is serving with the teaching program and getting more involved with our little kids and teachers and facilitating a lot of that kind of work. And I'm just kind of learning now that these no moments that often feel so hard and difficult have these ways of protecting us for God's plans in the future.
Giving us space, leaving us open. Not that it's a rejection necessarily, but it's if you could call it a grace that God is giving to me to give me opportunity and space to be able to say yes to some things in the future. And so I'm really thankful for the no I received a while back. It kind of fits into our little game we were playing.
Ryan: Yeah, I can really relate to that, that sometimes, you know, some of the things in the church that have-- at the time, I was like, "I don't know. "This is not how I wanted this to go "or this is not what I expected," has clarified things for me, simplified things to where I know now better what is my-- what is needed.
You know, like, what's the time for now that we keep asking this season? But what is mine to do in this church and in this work of service? And what is called for? What is needed? What are people hungry for? And, you know, it takes-- sometimes, "no's," like you're saying, are actually just closing a bunch of doors clarifies the doors that you should be focusing on.
So, I relate to that. The other thing I was thinking about with my family is Adrian sometimes struggles with our babies growing up. You know? [laughing]
Bryan: yes. And they are. They're getting huge. Yeah,
Ryan: They're not babies anymore. I've got a seven-year-old through a 13-year-old, four kids, and it has been such a cool thing. Not only, like, the ease that comes with they're not babies anymore, but also, as they all are these different personalities and each one has different relationships and we have different relationships with everybody, and so there's these six different relationships, but we're-- we've all grown so close.
And so this season right now that we're in, and I know things change and, you know, we won't always be around and that kind of thing. I'm really savoring and grateful for this moment when we as a family are all old enough that there's nobody that's a baby that we're tending to, but young enough that we all are just enjoying each other.
And, like, especially as we go through this holiday season, it's always such a great time to-- we do it up big, and we-- [laughing] the holiday movies and the-- just all kinds of-- we have so many traditions. My family are very big. My kids are huge on traditions, so everything has to be the way it was last year.
And it just makes you more aware of this is a moment, and the moments have to be noticed in order to be truly appreciated, and praise God for
Bryan: I think what you're saying is really my big takeaway from this whole conversation actually, which I appreciate, is that, you know, sometimes gratitude is there right out in front of us. It's obvious. We should be able to see it, but for some reason sometimes we're just not trained to see it. We're not seeing it as clearly as we should be because of all the other distractions and things.
And I think for me I'm seeing that gratitude is just this spiritual muscle that helps me find God's goodness and blessing all throughout, sprinkled about in the middle of life's frustration. So yeah, we could be real worked up about how our precious little angels are, you know, getting older. And boy, mine is too.
I'm with you there. But just to be able to see that clearly that like this moment today is a blessing because of who they are now, not who they used to be or not who they will be tomorrow. But like and, you know, for all of us, I think when our team is losing and our turkey has exploded
Ryan: And there's no coffee! [laughing]
Bryan: there's no coffee in the house, I'm like, look for that moment.
I think it's helpful maybe for us today. And, you know, if this is real for you today, I'm sorry if we've somehow, you know, lit something up in your brain. But hopefully you can use this and see the great blessings that God is giving to
Ryan: Yeah, that's-- that's this exercise of, "In everything, give thanks," is about learning to find it. And our brains become trained to look for the reason for gratitude. The more we do it, we get better at it. It becomes a habit. And so, yeah, work on-- just all of us can work on constantly, whenever we are at our lowest, or whenever something disappoints us, or frustrates us, or maybe it's a little silly thing, like some of this, or maybe it's a big thing.
But we can, in all of it, know God is still present, He's gonna use it for good, and there is always something to be grateful for in Jesus Christ.
Closing Thoughts and Farewell
Bryan: I am grateful to you, Ryan, for this conversation we've had today. This little mini has been great. I appreciate that. And thanks everyone for tuning in. It has been so awesome to have you all on board with us on this journey. Thanks for tuning in to this little tiny Bible Geeks mini. We're not sure what we're talking about on the next episode, but we're really excited for that.
And until that one, may the Lord bless you and keep you.v