Choosing Thankfulness

I've had a bad year.  Actually, I've had a bad 15 months or so.  I could go into the litany of lost jobs, car wrecks, illnesses, family emergencies, and so forth.  I won’t, because specifics aren’t important here.  Several times over the last few weeks, I've mentioned that I can't wait for 2015 to be over, because it's been a bad year, and hoping that 2016 would be better.  If I can just make it to the end of the year, I tell myself, everything will get better next year.

Then the realist (some would call it the 'cynic') in me speaks up.  "You can't know what's going to happen next year," it says.  "You thought this year was bad?  It can get worse."

I'm forced to admit that my realistic side is correct.  It can certainly get worse.  I've had enough stuff go on just in the last few weeks that brought that sharply into focus.  It can always get worse.

Then, a week or two ago, while listening to our preacher give his lesson, something struck me.  It pierced me to the core.

I have spent the last 15 months of my life resenting things that happened to me.  Oh, I've put on a happy face, and certainly not everything that has happened in those months has been bad, but I have been letting the bad set the tone of my life.  Everything seemed to come back to the bad things.
I have been using those bad things as a shield against personal responsibility.  I'll pause for some of you to digest the irony of that statement; I'm a huge fan of personal responsibility.  As it turns out, I'm not quite as huge a fan of it as I thought.

Not that I've been irresponsible in any of my temporal or social duties.  I go to work, I hang out with friends, I try to be a good husband and father.  My bills get paid, dishes get washed, and my house at least does not look like a disaster area.  Usually.

But I have not taken personal responsibility for my eternal duties.  Work is important for a variety of reasons.  Being a good friend, husband and father are incredibly important.  Being a humble, joyful, and above all *thankful* follower of Christ is much more important.  I have failed in all of those. 
I can wax eloquent on how God never gives us a command to "feel," but then when it comes time to choose, I never seem to.  So today - now - I will choose joy.  I will choose humility.  I will choose thankfulness.

I will not resent the jobs lost (one for me, and one for my wife).  I will thank God for the opportunities presented – a new job at better pay with better hours for me, and the chance to be a stay-at-home mom for my wife.  I will not resent the car wrecks; I will thank God that no one was seriously injured, and that our insurance has handled things relatively smoothly.  I will not resent the illnesses; I will thank God for our health, and that none of those illnesses turned critical (and they could have).

Here I can only repeat the prayer in the parable, and hope like the character I too “go away justified.”

“Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Why I'm Thankful

So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving (and, er, thanksgiving), I thought it appropriate to say what I'm thankful for.  I won't be around tomorrow or Friday because I'll be hanging out with my family, so I figured I'd do it now.

I'm thankful that God the Son chose to descend into his own creation, live a mortal life, and die by vicious torture, all so that my sins, and yours could be forgiven.

I'm thankful that I live in a country of free men, created by free men, and defended by free men.

I'm thankful that I have a somewhat successful career, and can provide for my family.

I'm thankful for two loving parents, married to no one but each other, and the advantages that "accident of birth" gave me.

I'm thankful my mom didn't exercise her "rights" as dictated by the Supreme Court under Roe v Wade (I was an unplanned pregnancy).

I'm thankful for my father, uncle, and brother who all served in the United States Military.

I'm thankful for my mother, who reared me to be the man I am.

I'm thankful for my wife and my children; I would be an empty husk without them.

I'm thankful that, in our worst times, when we could barely make ends meet, that my wife and I are part of the richest nation ever to grace the planet.  I'm thankful that I have the ability to be annoyed when traffic backs up.  I'm thankful that I can be vexed when the coffee pot breaks.

I'm thankful for ace, the cob-loggers, and the rest of the Moron Horde at at the AoSHQ.

Whatever else is true, I know that I am one of the most blessed people ever to walk the face of this earth.  Sometimes I lose sight of that, and complain about things that don't matter.  So sometimes I have to remind myself:

I'm thankful I don't have to worry where my next meal will come from.

I'm thankful I don't have to worry if my children will die from malnutrition or disease.

I'm thankful I don't have to boil my water before I drink it.

I'm thankful I don't have to worry about missing work if I'm sick.

I'm thankful I don't have to work all day, every day, just to survive.

Not everyone has all of these blessings.

What Happened To Thanksgiving?

It seems people say it every year, but Christmas sales, and Christmas promotions, and Christmas decorations seem to come out earlier and earlier every year.  This year, my local stores had Christmas stuff up starting before Halloween.  One of the local radio stations started playing Christmas Music last week.  People are camping out at stores to get "Black Friday Deals" already.

What happened to Thanksgiving, or, for that matter, thanksgiving? 

I get it.  Thanksgiving is not a big retail holiday.  People don't give each other Thanksgiving gifts.  They don't buy each other Thanksgiving Baskets or decorate Thanksgiving Eggs.  They don't buy Thanksgiving costumes.  From a retail standpoint, Thanksgiving is a non-entity.  Sure, the grocery stores like it, but they like Christmas, New Year's Day, Easter, and the Fourth of July just as much.  Best Buy couldn't care any less.

Just because the stores do it, doesn't mean we have to encourage it, though.  Right now, people in general are depressed and disheartened.  All the "news" is bad news.  Families wait on pins and needles to find out if their children in Afghanistan are still safe.  People with family in Israel have similar fears over their loved ones.  Over 23,000,000 people don't have jobs, and are having to rely on charity for food.

In the midst of all of this, we should be thankful.  We should be joyful.  I say this both as a Christian and an American.  As a Christian, I'm commanded to thanksgiving and joy anyway.  I don't always live up to that, but I'm instructed to give thanks even when I'm burdened by troubles.  As an American, I am one of the most wealthy people in the history of the world.  As a somewhat successful computer programmer, I can afford to feed my family just on my income, so my wife can rear our children.

Later, I'll post a list of what I'm thankful for, and why.  For now, why don't you fill the comments with your thanks?