I'm just as tickled as the next person to read and ponder what people are thankful for. We should practice this every day of the year for certain. Yet, somehow, something deeper has been on my heart this year. I don't know if it's a warning, a precaution, or just a deeper level of being thankful that I'm about to learn.
We, as Americans really do need to gain some perspective. We are all struggling in this economy but the reason we struggle is because of our scale of measurement. The way we define "struggle" would shock a large percentage of the world.
Half live on less than $2 a day
Seriously though, we only feel we struggle because we are so pampered. Try these mental punches to your perspective:
1. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than seventy five percent of the people in the world.
2. If you can attend a church or synagogue meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
3. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are more blessed than five hundred million people in the world.
4. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish, you are among the top eight percent of the world's wealthy.
5. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
These are VERY sobering, don't you think?
YET! My mind has been pondering something new this year.....
WHAT WHEN ALL YOU ARE THANKFUL FOR IS STRIPPED AWAY? What will you be thankful for then?
Sometimes we surround ourselves this time of year with reminders to ourselves and our children for the things we should for sure be thankful for. In doing that we sometimes mindlessly define our thankfulness by the many blessings we have. Perhaps even the poorest person on the planet could still do this, and should, in that they are alive and can be thankful for that. So what heart response happens when you read this?:
"Though he slay me, yet I will praise him." Job 13:15
Where are we then when all we say this year we are thankful for is taken out from under our feet. Where will we turn? To what hope will we look. What when the reasons for our thanks become no more? What foundation will our hearts rest upon? Will we then despair and say that we have no reason to be thankful anymore?
There is one thing that even when our very breath is taken from us, we can still be filled with thanks.
GOD IS GOOD
He is defined by complete and untainted goodness. Every pain and loss, every despair and deep anguish will be perfected in his healing hands. I just really want to wrap my head around that this year. What if one day I wake up and all around me, my husband, my sweet children, the walls that protect and warm me, the friends who bless me, the food that feeds me....what if it was all taken away? Would my heart find thanks and praise in that place?
Thanks is a funny thing. The more you have taken away, the more you appreciate what you have. I'm sure many of us are feeling that this year. What is left becomes more precious to us. Should we be reduced to walls and food and each other, just think of how we would cherish more just those things. When even that is gone and the world should turn completely dark for us, in the quiet of human nothingness there is for the repented heart a haven of God's goodness. Nothing can take that away we say right? Ah, but there are things that take it away. There are things that make us forget. When all is gone we are blessed to find it's fullness, but when we have even a few good things they can overshadow God's goodness. The THINGS themselves that we give thanks for become why we feel God is good. For that we should repent. I should repent. God is not good because I have been blessed, I am blessed because God is good. Therefore, my blessing continues till I see him face to face.
So, I do want to get some perspective on how really pampered I am. I DO want to be thankful for so much. I also however want to caution my heart not to put stock into those things for the base definition of who I am and what where my richness lies.
Can I give you something in ending this? Copy this verse and keep it close this Thanksgiving. Put it up somewhere if you like, or even put it on the table. It will make your heart swell more than any earthly thing you find to be thankful for:
"In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,
so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls" 1 Peter:6-9
Be thankful for God's goodness, unshakable and unmeasurable.
We, as Americans really do need to gain some perspective. We are all struggling in this economy but the reason we struggle is because of our scale of measurement. The way we define "struggle" would shock a large percentage of the world.
"...research indicates that assets of just $2,200 per adult place a household in the top half of the world's wealthiest. To be among the richest 10% of adults in the world, just $61,000 in assets is needed. If you have more than $500,000, you're part of the richest 1%, the United Nations study says. Indeed, 37 million people now belong in that category.
Half live on less than $2 a day
Sure, you can now be proud that you're rich. But take a moment to think about it, and you'll probably come to realize that the meaning behind these numbers is harrowing. For if it takes just a couple of thousand dollars to qualify as rich in this world, imagine what it means to be poor.
Half the world, nearly 3 billion people, live on less than $2 a day. The three richest people in the world –- Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, investor Warren Buffett and Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helú -- have more money than the poorest 48 nations combined " (gathered from this article)
First of all, doesn't that last bit make you feel like those men should share more!? Just a side note.
Seriously though, we only feel we struggle because we are so pampered. Try these mental punches to your perspective:
1. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than seventy five percent of the people in the world.
2. If you can attend a church or synagogue meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
3. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are more blessed than five hundred million people in the world.
4. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish, you are among the top eight percent of the world's wealthy.
5. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
These are VERY sobering, don't you think?
YET! My mind has been pondering something new this year.....
WHAT WHEN ALL YOU ARE THANKFUL FOR IS STRIPPED AWAY? What will you be thankful for then?
Sometimes we surround ourselves this time of year with reminders to ourselves and our children for the things we should for sure be thankful for. In doing that we sometimes mindlessly define our thankfulness by the many blessings we have. Perhaps even the poorest person on the planet could still do this, and should, in that they are alive and can be thankful for that. So what heart response happens when you read this?:
"Though he slay me, yet I will praise him." Job 13:15
Where are we then when all we say this year we are thankful for is taken out from under our feet. Where will we turn? To what hope will we look. What when the reasons for our thanks become no more? What foundation will our hearts rest upon? Will we then despair and say that we have no reason to be thankful anymore?
There is one thing that even when our very breath is taken from us, we can still be filled with thanks.
GOD IS GOOD
He is defined by complete and untainted goodness. Every pain and loss, every despair and deep anguish will be perfected in his healing hands. I just really want to wrap my head around that this year. What if one day I wake up and all around me, my husband, my sweet children, the walls that protect and warm me, the friends who bless me, the food that feeds me....what if it was all taken away? Would my heart find thanks and praise in that place?
Thanks is a funny thing. The more you have taken away, the more you appreciate what you have. I'm sure many of us are feeling that this year. What is left becomes more precious to us. Should we be reduced to walls and food and each other, just think of how we would cherish more just those things. When even that is gone and the world should turn completely dark for us, in the quiet of human nothingness there is for the repented heart a haven of God's goodness. Nothing can take that away we say right? Ah, but there are things that take it away. There are things that make us forget. When all is gone we are blessed to find it's fullness, but when we have even a few good things they can overshadow God's goodness. The THINGS themselves that we give thanks for become why we feel God is good. For that we should repent. I should repent. God is not good because I have been blessed, I am blessed because God is good. Therefore, my blessing continues till I see him face to face.
So, I do want to get some perspective on how really pampered I am. I DO want to be thankful for so much. I also however want to caution my heart not to put stock into those things for the base definition of who I am and what where my richness lies.
Can I give you something in ending this? Copy this verse and keep it close this Thanksgiving. Put it up somewhere if you like, or even put it on the table. It will make your heart swell more than any earthly thing you find to be thankful for:
"In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,
so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls" 1 Peter:6-9
Be thankful for God's goodness, unshakable and unmeasurable.
3 comments:
Praise God! It is so easy to loose are perspective in our culture of abundance. I do find that the less I have the more thankful I am for just the basic needs being met. We are so blessed by God. Just finished watching the Undescribable video with the kids. It is so amazing that we are so small and He loves us so much and gives us so much. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving and a fun fall walk with your hubby.
Amen to that! Thanks for the reminder!
Wow, Alicia, I think you summed it all up! -Charlotte
Post a Comment