Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving season has found me reflecting more on my thankfulness than I normally would.

It has occurred to me over the last few years how blessed I am. Anyone who lives in the USA and has traveled anywhere beyond its borders knows that we have something special here. I’m not on my rameumptom here. In fact, I’m not sure that any of us deserves it.

I was born to wonderful parents who love me and have supported me in all of the good things that I have ever done. By our standards we weren’t rich growing up. We never starved but we were penny-wise. Even in this situation I was much more blessed than the majority of people who live in this world. In my adulthood I’ve been blessed with great blessings. I have a wonderful wife and family. My job is good and stable (famous last words). We have a beautiful home in a very safe location. We have friends, food, transportation, freedoms and happiness. We have everything I could hope for.

I look around at the wealth and prosperity that I see and I can’t help but think that I really haven’t done anything to deserve being where I am. On the grand scale of things, I’ve done nothing to create the stability or prosperity around me. Frankly, I don’t deserve to live in these conditions any more than anyone else you meet in Africa, South America, Asia, Australia or Europe. These blessings are nothing that I deserve. As much as I think Americans try to fool themselves, we individual Americans don’t deserve any of this. We simply lucked out. We were born in the right place at the right time. There is no real reason that I couldn’t have been born in a hut with a dirt floor in Africa. That was all up to God. I am unbelievably thankful that He put me where I am, but I know it is all Him and not me.

There are so many people around me who suffer in ways that I do not have to. People who do their best to prepare for the worst can still be overwhelmed by circumstances that they cannot control. Children get sick. Accidents come out of nowhere. Storms ravage. Waters rise. Regardless of what I do to prepare, I know that everything that I have could be taken away from me in an instant. I see how this has happened to wonderful people. People much better than me. My heart breaks when I see the trials of others. Not only for them but because I know that I could just have easily been placed in their shoes.

Sometimes I complain about this or that, but on the grand scale of things, I really have nothing to complain about. I’ve not had to face any of the trials that some around me have. For this I am grateful.

So this season, I am especially thankful for all that I have. I’m amazed at the love the Lord has for me. I’m amazed by his grace and blessings. I’m amazed with the wonderful family that I have. I’m eternally indebted for the blessing that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in my life.