Even when things suck bad, there is much to be thankful for

Optimism is important but sometimes it feels like being optimistic is just a nice guy's way of copping out.

Often, if someone tells me something like, "I crashed my car on the weekend," I'll say, "at least you didn't get hurt."

I say those kinds of things alot and occasionally I wonder, "am I not sympathizing enough?" or "am I just spinning a positive into this hugely negative situation?"

I read a cool example today in my daily devotional email thingy. It talks about the importance of showing gratitude towards God for the countless ways we have been blessed. There is always something to be thankful for. I guess it makes sense even in the most extreme example, because even in physical death, we can be thankful for eternal life. Here's the excerpt:

After the Bible expositor Matthew Henry was accosted and robbed he wrote in his diary: "Let me be thankful, first, that I was never robbed before, second, that although they took my purse they didn't take my life, third, that although they took everything I had, it wasn't much, fourth, that it was I who was robbed, and not I who did the robbing."