Counting my Blessings

Thanksgiving...
The preface to Christmas?
A day of total & complete gluttony?
Food, football, and family?

Thanksgiving is meant to be so much more. It is a day devoted to recognizing the blessings God has poured out on you. By recognizing blessings I mean more than just praying "God, thank you for this chance to spend time with family & friends and thank you for everything you have given us. Bless this wonderful food to the nourishment of our bodies. Amen" before digging into the extravegant feast laid out before you. We are so so blessed with luxuries beyond what we could ever need, and we hardly ever take the time to recognize it.

God has given me so much that I never appreciate until I have to live without it, things like:
a roof over my head to protect me from the sun & wind & rain, much more than a single pair of clothes, shoes, a toothbrush, clean & drinkable water, plumbing, electricity, easy access to medication and medical care, a bed, soap, education, Christian parents who love me, an electric stove, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine & dryer, heat & air conditioning, nutritious food, a sense of safety & protection, a car, a computer & internet access, grocery stores, a fair government, freedom. I could go on and on.

Read through that list again, slowly this time, and think about what your life would be like without each of those things. Now think of the people who live every day without those things. The woman living in Afghanistan who is oppressed & devalued by the Muslim religion and men all around her. The people of Haiti living in filth surrounded by death & disease with no hope of a better tomorrow. The innocent young woman trapped in the sex-trafficing business with no way out. The orphan who has no concept of love and family. The heartbroken widow in India who is seen as an outcast of society because she no longer has a husband. The people who lie sick & dying of preventable & treatable illnesses hundreds of miles from any kind of medical care. The child soldiers in Uganda who are trained to fight & forced to kill after they are kidnapped from their families. The malnourished children of Africa who search for scraps of food among the garbage. The homeless, poor, rape victims, enslaved, tourtured, lost, searching, hopeless, depressed, suicidal, lonely, neglected, addicted.

Counting my blessings makes my heart ache for those who so desperately need the very things I take for granted. So this thanksgiving as you thank God for all the blessings you have - big & small, luxuries & needs, overlooked & unappreciated - allow your mind to spend some time dwelling on those in your city and around the world that are in need. Pray for their hearts, their salvation, and their needs. And then go a step further and do something about it.