Thanksgiving 2009
Yesterday was a day that people all over the USA took the time to slow down, spend time with loved ones and have at least a passing thought or two on gratitude. It was a day that has been set aside for years, a day when (most of) the stores are closed, and you are practically forced to chill.
We took part in the festivities – having a relaxing morning (we cooked on Wednesday), headed over to my aunt’s house where the whole family was gathered for the feast, and then went to see a movie with the girls and the grandparents, as is tradition. We talked about what we are thankful for as we were driving – A is thankful for family, friends, and Jesus. Oh, and the cat. M was thankful for us & A, her grandparents, her teachers and her friends. Oh, and Jesus. Yes, they were both in that order!
Me? I’m thankful for so many things.
First & foremost I am thankful for being created by a God who loved me enough not only to create this world and all of us on it (knowing that so many wouldn’t love Him back) but also loved me and you enough to sacrifice His Son – to allow Him to be born as a human, to live out a life, to be ridiculed and beaten, and torturously killed – so that I could be saved.
Second – I’m thankful for Eric. I’m thankful for everything that he does each day for our family. I’m thankful that he has a job that pays our bills, and that he loves his children deeply. At the moment I’m especially thankful that he is stringing the lights on my mom’s Christmas tree – especially knowing how much he hates to string lights.
I’m also thankful for the two beautiful girls that God has blessed us with. Yes they frustrate me from time to time, but over all they are truly great kids. They are well behaved, they love each other and they love Jesus. They have gentle and sensitive hearts and I know that God has something in mind for each of them – and I can’t wait to see what it is!
Thirdly I am thankful that we live in a country where we are free to live our lives how we want to. We can worship God freely and without fear of persecution. That we can gather together with other believers – both in the real world and online – and not have to hide away in a basement somewhere out of fear of being thrown in jail. I am, however, saddened that while we have these freedoms we as a nation tend to squander them. And yes, I’m talking to myself as much as anyone else with that one.
These are some of the things I have been reflecting on over the last coupe of days.
And then comes today.
It seems ironic to me that the day following our corporate day of thinking about all that we have is the day of corporate “get out there and get stuff before everyone else.”
Seriously.
What happened to being thankful for the things that we already have – both the tangible and the intangible?
Personally, I avoid the whole black friday thing, and have for years. I think that the mad rush to go buy more stuff – stuff that we don’t really need and stuff that those we are buying for don’t really want – is kind of insane. We spend so much money that we don’t have anyway on things that we don’t need and we seem to have lost the point.
Christmas is about the gift God gave the world, but we have perverted it into a season of “me, me, me!”
Today I am taking the time to be thankful for the blessings God has already given me, and leaving the insanity to the rest of the world.
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