Thanksgiving
reminds us to be grateful. If we wait
until one time a year to think about what we are grateful for, we do a
disservice to our souls. Each day God
hides opportunities to know Him more. We
have every reason to be grateful for every moment of every day.
The worst
day of my life will surely be the morning I awoke to find my husband
unconscious in our home. Even on the worst
day there was a long list of people and experiences of God’s love for which I
could be grateful. I was immediately
surrounded by half the staff of ministers with whom Brian worked. I only made one call to his assistant, and
everyone came running to be by his side (and mine). I’m so grateful that in the midst of my shock
my sister-in-law had the good sense to buy Rachel a flight and get her on her
way—she arrived just after lunch. When I
thought about my friends, I called one and gave her a list of those to call
because I knew they would kill me for not knowing what was going on. I missed a few, but they didn’t mind. When they found out, they were by my side. I’m grateful that my friend Angie insisted on
taking me home for a shower and fed me chicken noodle soup on the car ride
home. I’m grateful that in those few
moments alone God spoke to my spirit and gave me hope through His word.
My list
goes on and on for the days that followed.
There was always something or someone to be grateful for. God makes sure of that. Even in this evil
world full of bad news and anxious situations, we can find reason to be
grateful. If it is only for the air you
can breathe free of charge or the blue sky above, we all can find a reason to
thank God each day.
I can only
imagine what the conversations between Adam and Eve and God were like before
the fall. It seemed that God made this
world just for us humans, and He delighted in seeing how we responded to His
goodness. He gave us a world full of
only good, and we corrupted it through our own sin. Now our grateful journey must include evil
right along with the good. Many of us
only focus on the evil and forget about all the good.
God doesn’t
expect us to be Pollyannaish.
Gratefulness must take in the full reality of the evil. I’m grateful that God did not abandon this
world. It is pretty bad even as it is
with all His love. Can you imagine if God
totally went away?
A grateful
life is a full life. I know that I
cannot see God’s goodness without intimacy with God. I easily overlook that God is good when I
hear of triplets being lost or two bad diagnoses in a row. I’m not saying that it makes perfect sense. I’m just saying that those things that we
cannot be grateful about are happening in the midst of realities that are
worthy of our notice. We should not
allow our souls to remain blinded to God’s goodness. Though I’m very unhappy that I don’t get to
live the rest of my life with my husband and my children are missing their
father and our best friend; I am grateful for his great salvation and that he
is in heaven enjoying his rewards of seeing all of God’s goodness. Those of us still behind the veil can only be
grateful for the blue sky, the leaves that turn brilliant, unique colors each
fall.
I wish you
a Happy Thanksgiving and wish your soul to practice thanksgiving every
day. Use David’s example in Psalm 31:9: I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for
you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. Learn to be glad and rejoice in God’s love because He
sees how much we live in anguish due to our afflictions!
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