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Thanksgiving – A Different Perspective
I’ve reached that age where being thankful doesn’t mean the same it did 40 or 50 years ago. When the kids were little and we struggled to make the rent and finally the mortgage payment and groceries were not guaranteed, we were thankful sometimes just to have the lights still turned on. Sometimes we feel like we have so little compared to other folks when just by living in America we automatically have so very much to be thankful for.
I long ago stopped complaining about working in a hot workshop when all I have to do is remember our sons and daughters carrying 60 pounds of gear fighting for their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan in 120-degree heat. When the mortgage seems burdensome, I remember just a few months ago the single mother of 3 small children forced to move because her house was being foreclosed on and there still wasn’t enough food or medicine. We were thankful to have enough resources ourselves that we could play a small part in their lives and provide a little relief when it was so desperately needed.
As woodturners, we are thankful for that new lathe or $150 M4 gouge when some of those around us would be thankful for just a meal big enough to feed them and their hungry little brother and maybe warm coats to help get through another tough winter. I read recently where the people in Venezuela were celebrating the gift of out-of-date sardines to feed their people. Never mind the possibility that many could die or be sickened by the spoiled food. I’m betting you won’t be eating out-of-date canned food today and neither will my family.
As we endure endless political wrangling, lies, and manipulation let us still remember the very many tangible blessings we have to be thankful for in our lives and the lives of our own children and grandchildren. If you are fortunate enough to have abundance in your own life, give thanks and be full of joy for we truly live in the land that flows with milk and honey. Yes, we will gather with friends and family to celebrate another year of plenty around tables overflowing with wonderful things to eat at our home. We should also realize just how extremely blessed we are to worry about choosing the right $200 grinding wheel, or the right $5,000 lathe to use in pursuit of our leisure time hobby.
When the complaints come from family members this time around consider all that we actually have to be thankful for. I’m feeling so very blessed myself for my wonderful family, home, business and great customers like you. From the Brown family to yours, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving this year. Remember that wherever you go, there you are.
Here is my inspiration for this message:
Ps 100:4 NIV Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
2Cor 9:10-11 NIV Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
Phil 4:6 NIV Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
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