thank·ful adj 1. feeling or expressing gratitude 2. glad or relieved about something
It is an annual tradition almost as sacred as the event being commemorated. American journalists compose miles of columnar space and hours of broadcast editorial commentary expressing their heartfelt appreciation for the freedoms over which we spend the other 364 (or 365 if it’s Leap Year) days each year arguing.
Occasionally I am asked to recite that for what I am thankful. When I am asked to choose which among my many blessings I consider to be at the forefront, I pause to collect my thoughts. Because we live in a microwave society in which everyone is expected to have a pithy reply for any situation, my hesitation can easily be mistaken for a lack of thankfulness. Far from an absence of gratitude, my hesitation is because my blessings are far too numerous to condense into 25 words or less.
Reality reveals that a list of things for which I am thankful would read something like a passage from Proverbs with qualifiers that may seem to offset one another. It isn’t that my blessings come with conditions, but more that life experiences tell me to be thankful for the good while recognizing that there is always something lurking in the shadows that will snatch the good away without so much as a moment’s notice.
Take, for example, the great blessing of living in the good ol’ U.S. of A. Yes, we have freedoms for which other countries long. We have the freedom to worship, work, live, raise our families, study, offer our opinions, wear our favorite fashions, eat as much chocolate as we want...you get the drift. We can do a lot of things for which other countries envy us. In fact, we can do a lot of things — particularly in the work arena — for which our fellow countrymen envy us. As “they” say: There’s the rub.
While we’re busily pursuing the life our freedoms allow, there are far too many folks who fail to recognize that having the freedom to do all of these things comes with the freedom to choose our path. If we’re paying attention, we know that God has a path for all of us to walk and that He takes care of us day by day. Far too many of us, though, are so busy talking and trying to outthink our neighbors and co-workers that we can’t hear God, so we wander off on a bunny trail of our own making. We don’t have room here for me to share how many times I’ve been guilty of that myself.
As we list our freedoms, first among them should be the freedom to choose to listen to God and follow His path or listen to pop culture and follow a path that will only lead to sleepless nights, broken relationships, dysfunctional business dealings, and a life spent trying to figure out why your neighbor is so serene while you’re on the psychiatrist’s couch. That’s not to say that God will not demand that we back away from harmful relationships we’ve developed as we ran through the briars of life. He has been known to allow one to learn from bad relationship choices. Yep, got the tee shirt on that one.
There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t thank God for that which He has blessed our household — a life in Him; a wonderful family and a circle of friends from which we receive many blessings and joys; good health; the opportunity to learn, apply those teachings, and develop ideas to share with others in a quest to make our community better as I believe I’m being led; a happy little group of felines who allow us to provide a home for them and be their staff; a church and community that bless and challenge at the same time; and His decision to put me in my hometown where I can try to assist my parents as they have assisted me throughout my life. All of these things are the result of His choice to put me in the greatest country in the world.
For these things and many more, I am eternally thankful. Wishing for you and yours the quiet time to hear God’s voice, the wisdom to recognize His plan, the strength to follow His path for you, and the peace that comes from knowing you couldn’t have planned it better.
Helen Person is a Winder resident and columnist for the Barrow Journal. You can reach her at helenperson@windstream.net.
Edwin Gravitt