Written Around Thanksgiving Awhile Back…

I’m going out on a limb here.  I’m going to show you what a maverick thinker I can be. This is the season of acknowledging blessing.  And a good thing that is.  Some people…you know the ones….they are always frowning…only find a blessing or two to be able to have something to say around the Thanksgiving Feast Table so they can eat.Then there are the avid Blessing Keepers that are thankful for EVERYTHING.  All in the same prayer.  Usually just before a meal that is quickly getting cold.  Cynical.  Maybe.  But hear me out.

How many of the things could be transient for which we claim  as blessings and thank God. Here today gone tomorrow. And if they are gone, then what?  Yes it IS good to acknowledge God’s goodness to us, the provisions He makes for our comfort and ease, health, our families, new additions, puppies and kittens, food we like etc etc etc.  But what if….

What if in a blink of the eye those things changed? What if it didn’t FEEL like God is good.  What if we aren’t comfortable and things aren’t easy? What if our health changes and we aren’t well, our family status is altered, instead of new life we watch old life fade away, puppies and kittens grow up, food becomes unavailable and homelessness is our shelter.  What then?  Are we no longer blessed?

I was sent a list of 100 things to be thankful for.  Almost every single one of them, as thought provoking as they were,  could change in a heartbeat, except…God’s mercy and grace.  Our Eternal Inheritance, His provision for Eternity  for the  Redeemed Ones He called by Jesus’ Name.  We ARE to be thankful, in deed we are.  But, delve deeper into those thoughts.

Then , ponder the question, for what am I thankful?

I will join all the rest and looking into the faces of loved ones, the center piece of the table a rich assortment of all things delightful, in a warm shelter, maybe even a cozy wood fire, listening to the laughter of those in whom we delight to call family, enjoying the little ones, marveling that the older ones have grown into lovely young adults, missing the ones who aren’t with us…..and be ever so thankful for all the good memories and every one of those Bonus Blessings. But honestly, the true blessing, what I am most thankful for, every day, is that God has seen fit to include me, imperfect, sinful and as fallen as they       come. Accepted in the Beloved, His very own, to one day worship Him at His feet and be called Righteous, because of Jesus, for His honor and glory.