Devotionals

Thoughts for Thanksgiving

by Martha Kinney
11/10/19
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Psalms 9:1 I will give thanks to you my Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds

1 Chronicles 16:34 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.

            I was thinking about being thankful and I occurred to me that we may be missing lots of what we have to give thanks for. We really have little problem repeating the big items of our life like health, home and family. And they are important blessings. But perhaps we are overlooking the daily blessings showered on us.

            More than waking up to a beautiful morning, what about the fact we wake up at all. God gives us another day to use as we choose. What about getting out of bed. There are many who are confined there day after day. Walking, dressing ourselves, feeding ourselves, seeing, tasting, and so many other things we don't even think about doing. We all know about others who cannot do those things. We should be thanking God for these things too.

            My best friend for much of my life was limited in these gifts. She had Muscular Dystrophy.  She was confined to a wheel chair for all her life. She could not cut her own food or hold a glass to get a drink. She couldn't dress herself or get in or out of bed without someone doing it for her. Yet she was thankful for the things she could do.

            My husband was legally blind without his glasses for much of his life. I remember after his eye surgery the excitement he exclaimed about being able to see his feet when in the shower without his glasses. The awe of waking up and seeing where he was and being overwhelmed at all the stars that were overhead. I had taken all those blessings for granted because I had never been without them.

            Being thankful is being aware of all the many things we count as normal and usual in our life that are missing in the lives of others. Things we consider 'little things' are hugh things to others. Perhaps we are a bit unthankful because we don't recognize them.

            Thanksgiving is a time we pause to give thanks and perhaps remember the Pilgrims of long ago. They had lost many of their number over the year and yet they were thankful for just being alive and making it though another year. Maybe we need to take time and stop and consider just how much we really have to be thankful for and then make sure we tell God, 'Thanks'.