Thanksgiving

This week we will observe another Thanksgiving Day. It's a week later than usual this year because November 1 was on a Friday. That moves Thanksgiving a week closer to Christmas.

We usually think of Thanksgiving as a day to thank God for all the good things we have. That is right and good. But last week I read something that made me think a different way about giving thanks. It said something to the effect that we should be thankful for the good things we have and the problems we don't have. 

Here is a short list of problems I'm thankful I don't have:

• I'm not a widow
• None of my children have ever been in jail
• My car isn't wrecked (although I came close to doing that last week)
• I don't have a terminal illness
• I don't have debts to pay
• I don't have to wonder where my next meal will come from
• I'm not a refugee
• My husband is not a wife beater or child abuser
• I don't have any enemies (if anybody is mad at me I'm too dumb to know it)
• I'm not deaf or blind
• I don't need an oxygen tank
• I don't have to worry about where I will go when I die

The list could go on and on. For everything I have that I'm thankful for, there is a problem I'm thankful I don't have.  Everything we have is a gift from God and every problem we don't have is an act of His mercy.