My friend Rhonda asked
me to write the article because
she said she figured I had a lot to be thankful for this year. And it’s true! In the last year we have added two
beautiful boys to our family through adoption (bringing our household total to
four preschoolers). We love the
home that we have been blessed with, and in our neighborhood we have several
wonderful friends. If my husband
could be doing any job in the world, he would be doing exactly what he is doing
right now. These were all the
things that came to mind as I thought about what I had to be thankful for.
As I was
mentally making my list, it reminded me of all the times over the years we have
had Thanksgiving parties for the Chinese university students that we worked
with. Part of our party always
included giving them an opportunity to list things that they were thankful for,
and inevitably their lists included such common things as: My family, My friends, My studies. Very few of these students were
believers in Jesus, but it occurred to me that, even without God in their lives,
their lists looked almost identical to mine. And it got me to thinking that if my list was no different
than a non-Christian’s list, then something was wrong. So here is my new list of things that I
am thankful for.
I am
thankful that in bringing Isaac and David into our home, God gave me way more
than I can possibly handle. Every
day the level of needs and demands are overwhelming and I am completely unable
to handle it. And because of that,
much of my former pride is revealed as the emptiness that it is, and I am
driven every morning to cling to the promises that His mercy is new every
morning and He is the one who will meet both the needs of myself and my
children. And on the days when I
remember to look to Jesus my house is full of such redemptive chaos.
I am
thankful not only for a wonderful house to live in, but I am also thankful for
the leak in the basement and the line of sticky mystery substance that covers
all my walls at about finger level for three year olds. Because with Jesus in my life I don’t
have to live enslaved to my stuff.
So many people live for their
possessions, but I live for Christ so it doesn’t have to destroy me when
everything isn’t perfect or as good as the neighbors.
I am
thankful for friends who are not only friends but brothers and sisters in
Christ who point me to Jesus.
I am
thankful that in this current season of joy and fruitfulness in our work, God
has graced us with the ability to see how past seasons of feeling frustration
and fruitlessness have all been a part of the journey that has brought us
here. And I am thankful for the
reminder that brings to not lose hope and heart when in the future unexpected
turns and failures bring us back to another place where all is not what we wish
it would be.
These are
the things that I am truly thankful for in this season where we are reminded to
give thanks. It’s too easy to
settle for giving thanks for things that don’t cost anything to give thanks
for. But I encourage you to press
deeper to the more hidden and precious places of thankfulness. That is where real joy and life are to
be found – in truly being thankful.
