We can always find something to be thankful for, and there may be reasons why we ought to be thankful for even those dispensations which appear dark and frowning.

The quote argues that gratitude is not merely a response to pleasant circumstances but a disciplined way of seeing. Barnes suggests that even events that look “dark and frowning” may contain hidden goods—lessons, protections, or spiritual benefits—so that thanksgiving can be rational as well as pious. The key claim is not that suffering is good in itself, but that providence can render it meaningful, and that the human task is to search for reasons to give thanks rather than to fixate on grievance. In a Christian framework, this reframes adversity as potentially formative, inviting humility, patience, and trust in a larger moral order.