Yes, I am grateful that I have a jacket to wear in the winter and clean underwear. I am grateful that if a hole rips in one of my shirts, I have others I can wear. But the result of this fast has not so much been to make me grateful for all that I have but to make me critical.
When I hear about a child in my neighborhood who does not have a winter coat, I am not immediately thankful for what I have. Instead I think of the three or four coats hanging in my parent's entry closet - the ones that have not been touched for years. When I look at another person's need I am not thankful for my comfort, but mindful of my excess.
This is not to say that I always respond in a practical way to the needs I see. There, I am quite guilty. Since I have not made a resolution this year, I will now resolve to respond practically to at least one need I see a month. Feel free to keep me accountable. And as always, feel free to make a counter argument. Perhaps you think I do not give due credit to thankfulness.
2 comments:
I think we talked about this before about gratefulness/thankfulness and just being blessed by the Lord to have not only clothes on our back, but an excess of clothes.
I think it is great that your fast has brought you closer to Christ and it truly humbles me. I thought about the same exact thing yesterday how easy it is for me to pick up a coat in my closet if I am cold, or have different types of shoes for different types of events. I understand the cringing feeling that you get when you hear people say "it makes me think about how much I have to be grateful for" and how cliched the response is when one encounters poverty, but I have to admit there have been numerous accounts I have spouted that sentence. The statement seems somewhat vapid and shallow, but I think there are many times when we tend to forget to be thankful or grateful. There are many times when many of us believe we are entitled to what we have we deserve something or worked hard for it. I think God loves to hear Thank you from our hearts, but mostly to spread this love back to his people. To me I think being reminded of how blessed we are is the constant dependence we have for Jesus in our lives and just how what we have is not from us, but from him.
I have to say I am so thankful that God has blessed me with such an amazing friend that has opened up my eyes in so many ways. I have been thinking, since we have so much excess maybe God has blessed us with these goods in order to give it to his children. Sorry for the ramble. Stay strong in your fast and I pray for you everyday. <3
What a lesson in gratitude. I've thought of this long and hard over the past couple of weeks and have come back to re-read it several times prior to posting a comment.
How is it that you're able to understand this at such a tender age while I struggle at age 41! When we scaled our lifestyle down after I became ill, I had to 'relearn' to count blessings and really felt that I was being punished in some way - we never did buy another house and sold most of our furnishings when leaving for Southern California (where my specialists are) it's a great lesson that I'm learning every day, though and am so proud of you that you know this NOW - please instill this in your own children, kiddo (I know you will) what a testimony you have.
Keep writing, you have so much to say and your spirit really shines through in your words. It's just so refreshing and unspoiled.
Annie Hamilton
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