Am I Thankful? - March 2009

Life is tough. It’s always a mix of highs and lows and plateaus, but for many, right now, life is just tough. There are the reasons that life is tough. Some people just bring it on themselves, we know these people. For others, circumstances, timing, and the world itself seem to have conspired against them in a storm of pain and uncertainty.

Right now, the economy is wrecking havoc on many of those around us and even on our own families. I look at many of my friends and family and see the fear and uncertainty that they are facing right now and my heart breaks for them.

At the same time, I see many of these same people reach out in need and I see relationships grow deeper and stronger. I see people lean on God with renewed faith. I see other people giving out of their own need to those who are in deeper need. I see proud people humbled in a good way. I hope that I see generosity in me and my family.

I also want to remember that right now, even in tough financial times, I am blessed beyond belief. March 11 is Global Food Crisis Day. As I write this, I’ve just fed my son a warm meal (and thrown some of the leftovers away), he’s asleep in his own warm bed and I have no fear that I won’t be able to feed him for as long as he needs to be fed by me. At the same time, around the world and in our own community, mothers are weeping because they can’t provide basic needs for their children.
This economic crisis has certainly been a social-leveling in many ways. People who thought they had no financial worries are suddenly facing serious thoughts about providing for themselves and their families.

I am a pessimist and a worrier by nature, and yet I am also a woman of faith - I’ve seen God provide for me and my family in many seemingly hopeless situations.

Yet, it’s so easy to fall into an attitude of complacency and entitlement. I lose my ability to have some of my “wants” met and suddenly life is not fair and God is mean. I look around my home filled with “stuff”. Some of it is great and worthwhile, some of it is just fluff. I’ve got books to read to my son, he’s got so many toys to play with, I’m connected to the world in so many ways and still I crave what someone else has or something sold to me by media moguls that will change my life and I’ll look younger, be thinner, richer and of course, happier.

I don’t want to get all preachy on you. If I do, know that I’m preaching to myself too. I’m sitting here, feeling my second son wiggle around in my belly and I wonder what challenges he and his brother will face because of my generation’s greed. Will he grow up thankful or will he always be wanting more and more and more, even as he struggles to pay for previous generation’s mistakes.

I’ve been thinking about preparing for this new little fellow that’s joining us here in the real world in a few months. I want to whine and complain that our house is too small, but what I really need to do is look at all my junk and think about what I can get rid of to make space for the life that is coming. I want to give my kids lots of good things, fun things, but I also want to teach them to appreciate all that they have. Looking back on my life, growing up, we went through some terrifically tough financial times as a family, but I don’t remember those facts with any emotion. What I do remember of those times is fun and joy and love and peace - even if we couldn’t afford for me to have Moon Boots!

No matter what you’re facing right now, and I know some of you are in desperate times, remember to be thankful. Your children don’t need the latest and greatest everything to be happy, they need you, they need fun family times. They need faith in a God who is bigger than every circumstance.

For a while, I had a blog that was nothing more than writing something that I was thankful for everyday. I let that go, maybe it’s time to take it up again. I want to remember everyday all that I have to be grateful for.

Today I’m thankful for you, for a group of women who come together to support and encourage each other. Thanks!