A Thankful Heart

Yes, Thanksgiving is just around the corner. It's already proving to be different for me this year.

While I am thankful for the blessings we have enjoyed for so long, and all the blessings God continues to bestow on me personally, I'm also in mourning this Thanksgiving for our sick and dying country. America is no longer what it once was. And probably never will be again.

Freedom isn't free. So many countless heroes have given their all so that we can enjoy what we have today. If they could see our country now, what a disappointment it would be to them. We've continuously taken their sacrifices and what they purchased for granted, and now stand on the very brink of losing it all forever. We have been so ungrateful for so long that we wouldn't even take the time or effort to maintain what we had.

Apathy. It's a silently destructive thing.

That thought showed me so clearly that the Pilgrims were anything but apathetic. Their strength of character astonishes me. It really does.

I greatly admire them. They inspire me.

When most of us think about the first Thanksgiving, we tend to think that the Pilgrims only struggled to survive up until then. After that they had it all figured out somehow, and didn't have to struggle quite as much to make it here in the New World ever after.

But that's not true.

The year following that first Thanksgiving was one of the toughest years the Pilgrims had yet to face. There was even a period of time when their rations were cut in half in hopes of making their meager supplies last. There were days when they only had five kernels of corn each, for the entire day.

Yes, you read that right. Five. Kernels.

The Pilgrims openly trusted God for their provision. The Indians were aware of their faith, and helped them as much as they could, but held out little hope that many would survive the winter.

To their surprise, not one person died.

The next year they planted their crops using a different method that got every man, woman, and child involved. Everyone did what they could with a willing heart, and the anticipation was great that they would once more have a bountiful harvest.

Thirteen weeks of drought followed. The crops had managed to grow some, but quickly withered, and all seemed lost once again. The Pilgrims got together, and prayed for rain with the Indians watching from afar, shaking their heads in sympathy for what seemed another dreary, hopeless winter to come.

With no warning whatsoever, a gentle rain began to fall. William Bradford's diary described it as the quietest, gentlest, almost musical rainfall he had ever witnessed. It covered the land like a blanket; soaking everything through and through.

The Indians were astonished. They had never witnessed such a rainfall. Their only experience in praying for rain, and getting it usually resulted in harsh, destructive winds along with the rain that often did more harm than good.

The crops almost magically revived before their very eyes. They flourished, and produced abundantly. It was a miracle; a divinely orchestrated testimony to those Indians that was not soon forgotten.

That got me to thinking. We take so much for granted today. In truth we are, every one of us, spoiled rotten. None of us can even imagine what it would be like to have only five kernels of corn to eat indefinitely.

What would we do, if we did? How would we react?

None of us could know decidedly until the time actually came, but my guess would be that we would react to such dire circumstances and hardship with bitterness. With a sense of entitlement, and resentfulness toward the government or anyone else upon whom we could heap the blame. Perhaps God? It surely wouldn't be pretty.

I know how often I get upset over silly little things. Things that those tough Pilgrim woman probably would have scorned me for being upset over. Things like having to mop my floors every single day in order to have the luxury of taking a step without having to say "UGHHHH! What IS this?!?" I scorn myself.

The truth is, I have nothing to gripe, complain, or even worry about. Not one thing. And yet how often, how very often, I find myself with a decidedly UNthankful heart! I am so ashamed.

In the past, I have experienced the wonder of how a thankful heart, even in the most frustrating circumstances, produces joy. Deep, abiding, lasting joy. And joy produces peace. Peace that passes all understanding.

But we sabotage ourselves from the get go by simply choosing not to have a thankful heart. We conveniently forget all that we have to be thankful for because one, or a handful of things do not go our way. Things that most likely make no lasting difference whatsoever.

Our Heavenly Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine, and yet we act as if He is poor, and weak, and incapable of meeting our most basic needs. Let me encourage you to put feet to your faith this Thanksgiving, and choose to give thanks in every thing. Even in the things that do no make any sense to be thankful for. Give thanks.

Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to get my computer hacked. It has taught me to rely solely on Your care for us.

Thank you, Lord, for a stiff neck and headaches. It makes me appreciate my relative good health all the more, and forces me to rely on You to do what I can't.

Thank you, Lord, for a house that is all torn apart. It has made me evaluate how little and how much personal possessions mean to me, motivated me to get rid of non essentials, and purpose to more earnestly lay up treasures in heaven.

Thank you, Lord, for family that we have the privilege of going to see. In your goodness you have allowed my mother-in-love to survive cancer, and come out on the other side even more beautiful inside and out than before!

Thank you for your justice, Lord. That you have seen fit to allow my parents to be free, when everyone expected an entirely different outcome.

Thank you for the many testings and trials of the past year. They have forced me through painful spiritual growing pains that I wouldn't have chosen for myself, and made me see how very far I still have to go in my spiritual walk with You.

You alone get all the glory for the great things You have done, and will continue to do as I depend upon your grace to grow my faith, and increase my readiness to receive them.

My heart overflows with thankfulness, Lord.

To You.