A Spirit of Thanksgiving
This is another installment of the ChristianWriters.com Blog Chain.
I know that I am not as thankful about things in my life as I should be. Perhaps this is a common malady for many of us? Taking things for granted.
What am I thankful for?
A God who loves me, no matter what foolish decision I make.
A husband who loves me and wants to take care of me to the best of his ability.
A sister who puts up with my arrogance and loves me even though I am an idiot.
Friends. Family. A great job. Opportunities. The list could go on, even though I am not deserving of many of these blessings. Regardless, God wants us to be happy. He wants to provide for us the desires of our heart so that we reside in a place of contentment and peace.
Why is it so difficult for us to remember to be thankful? Why do we take what we have for granted so easily? Perhaps it is the growing epidemic of entitlement. Instead of working hard and earning what we call ours, we expect certain things to be our right.
The right to drive.
The right to own a house.
The right to have a high paying job.
The right to [insert selfish desire here].
But these are privileges and not rights. These are earned, much like trust. In fact, exactly like trust.
Banks trust us to make our mortgage payments on time. The state trusts us to drive responsibly. Our employers trust us to give 110% at our jobs. God trusts us with free will and the right to choose the path of our destiny.
Are we thankful for these things? Yes and no. Do we uphold these trust-filled privileges? Yes and no. It doesn’t sound very responsible, does it?
What does that say to us as a people? has privilege perhaps hardened our hearts to the blessing of hard work?
As a writer who grew up on a 30-acre homestead I suppose I have a more unique perspective of the bittersweet blessing of hard work. I am thankful for that, too, for I believe it is that history which occasionally pokes me in the back of the brain and reminds me how much I have to be thankful for now. A necessary reminder from time to time, don’t you think?
As it is, my life is awesome. There are things which could be improved, but isn’t that always a looming truth? The challenge is to take what you have and work at making it better so that your life and everything in it can be something you are proud of. Something that gives glory to God and the blessings He has made possible.
What are you thankful for?
I am a writer. I adore the spinning of the unwritten tale – that lesson waiting to be divulged to others. Each day a new story beckons. One last happy ending. My characters have a life outside of my own, and I always learn from their destiny.
~ Nona ~
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." ~II Corinthians 5:17
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