Gratitude

I love Thanksgiving. I love eating all the good food. I love being with family. I love pies. This year I played host to 24 family members for Thanksgiving dinner. It seems as if I spent the week before preparing for the big day, and the week after recuperating. With so much to do, it left little time to contemplate the abundance of blessings in my life.

 I just recently finished reading The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. My favorite part of the book focuses on finding gratitude in everything God gives us. Betsie who is Corrie’s older sister tells her the Bible instructs us to thank the Lord in all things. As Betsie encourages her, she begins to express gratitude for all things, but stops short with thanking God for flees that infest their barracks. She doesn’t believe there is any reason she could ever be grateful for flees. Weeks later Betsie and Corrie learn the reason why there is almost no patrolling by the guards in their new barracks which enables them to conduct worship services with little fear of being caught. It seems as if the guards are afraid of getting flees. Often times it is hard to recognize the blessings in all things especially during difficult times. I began to think about the things in my life that cause me frustration, heartache, or just seem to be an annoyance. Could I find the reason to be grateful for these things?

Road construction, taxes, a wayward child, the death of a loved one, a bad hair day, the flu, dishes, and a broken washer are all on my list of things that would test my ability to be grateful in all things. As my heart aches for a child, I draw closer to the Lord in prayer. I enjoy the blessings of policeman and fireman because I am a tax paying citizen. When my washer died, I did my part to help the economy get back on track. As I mourn the death of a loved one, I find greater love and appreciation for my family. As for road construction, I think I will just be grateful when it comes to an end.