Our pastor recently challenged us to be grateful for at least one thing every day this week. The message wasn't on Thanksgiving, as predictable as that would have been, but just happened to include a few verses in which the Apostle Paul mentions the concept of thanksgiving (Colossians 3:15-17). Even beyond that, for weeks now I've felt inextricably drawn toward a greater spirit of gratitude. God has blessed me so much beyond what I deserve, and He's been making that quite clear.
Even on my worst day at work, I have a job.
Even when something breaks on my house, I have a roof over my head.
Even when the check engine light comes on in my car, I have transportation.
Even when my clothes wear out, I have still more hanging in my closet.
Even when Mint.com e-mails me telling me a balance is low or a bill is due, I have enough to live comfortably.
Even when I have a disagreement with my wife, I have someone who still loves me and isn't going anywhere.
Even when my back hurts and plagues me throughout the day, I have a (mostly) healthy body.
Even when my dogs annoy the crap out of me, I have two companions to keep me company as I work from home so I don't go insane.
Even when I make mistakes, I have grace.
Even when I do the wrong thing, I have forgiveness.
Even when I was still a sinner, I have Christ.
It's pathetic that we have to have a holiday to remind us to be thankful. I should wake up EVERY DAY with the immediate awareness that I owe my life to someone else greater than me. The breath in my lungs is a gift, and the things at my disposal have been given for a purpose. And that purpose is bigger than me. I am inexplicably thankful to God that the Holy Spirit has been moving in my heart for weeks to get me to the point where I can feel this much gratitude. For too long I lived with a sense of entitlement, like I had earned any of this. By my hard work, or the sweat on my brow, I did it. What a fool.
If you look someone in the eyes who will eat their next meal only because of the money you just gave them, you see true thankfulness. Because the fact is, that guy needs that $5 more than I do, the Phoenix Rescue Mission needs that donation more than I do, the church benevolence fund needs my money more than I do. This world is full of hurting, broken people, and I too was broken. But I've been made whole again. God has blessed me with abundant life and that abundance wasn't so that I could live up in my own little world, keeping everyone else at arms length. The abundance given to me was so that I, in turn, can give to others.
1 Corinthians 1:5 says: "For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too." Even if I suffer in this life, God won't waste that suffering. Because there will always be someone who has suffered worse than me who needs comforting. Comfort that I can give. And without first having a spirit of gratitude, without first being thankful, we'll never be able to recognize that fact and bring comfort to others in need.
-Scott
P.S. And please don't take this the wrong way. I don't have it all figured out, and I'm not always as gracious and generous as I should be. I'm still a work in progress... "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends."
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