Today’s Author: Kent Olson
The list is long. Even if we have many negatives, the list to be thankful for is longer. The plenty we have in front of us is indeed a great plenty even if we momentarily think of something missing, wrong or not perfect. We have plenty. We are thankful.
The great light (Isaiah 9:2) tells us eternal life with God is ours. And that is stronger than all the earthly ills that are before us. Personally I do not have a long list of chronic health problems, of concerns over a warm place to sleep, of worries of where my next meal will come from, of worries of whether my children will not come home due to bad race relations, and so on. So even in the face of my little first-world problems, I am thankful for the absence of many worries and the presence of abundance of good things and good people.
I have Native American friends who do not celebrate Thanksgiving, some do not take the day off. Even though Native Americans were present at that first harvest celebration, they remember the killings, displacements and deprivations of their ancestors and their own families that followed. They are thankful for their blessings in their own ways. My Black and Asian friends have similar stories of atrocities but also express thankfulness in their own ways. All the poor in the world have similar stories of pain and deprivation and yet many celebrate and are thankful for what they do have. I remember a story of a young mother joyfully playing with her baby in the midst of a large slum in Calcutta, she was expressing joy and thankfulness in the midst of extreme poverty, an extreme lack of plenty.
So I know I can be thankful for what I have and at the same time endeavor to set out to do what I can to share my good fortune in whatever ways I can see to do, to follow God’s plan to help all people.
Dear God, thank you for all that we have. Thank you for family, friends, food, home, safety and health. Please show us how we can help those less fortunate that we. Thank you for your love and for the great light that you have sent in your son and the forgiveness we receive for our sins. Help us strive to help others. Amen.
“Mid-week devotions are authored by members of our community. If you are interested in creating a trio of reflections to be shared on an upcoming Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday contact Pastor Peter.“