Be Thankful

It is easy to miss all the reasons we can be thankful.  A friend of mine often includes in his prayers in a public setting, “Thank you for all the accidents that didn’t happen, the sicknesses that didn’t touch us and the catastrophes that we avoided.” When nothing happened to harm us, we have cause to be thankful, but we usually have no idea of how we have been protected, because we are unaware of it.

It is one thing to experience a close call–to almost be hit by the truck that went through the red light, or to realize the tornado changed direction just before it could devastate a community. We rejoice when we see something miraculous, as when a late stage cancer is healed, or when a child falls a distance of ten or twelve feet but is unhurt. But what about all the things that never come to our attention?

Much of life escapes our notice. We don’t usually give a lot of thought to the air we breathe, or the functioning of our lungs to process it. We are not conscious of our hearts pumping life-sustaining blood through our bodies. We enjoy seeing, hearing and touching the world around us without pondering how those experiences are biologically possible. We hug the people we love without thinking about the muscles necessary to do so. We only consider such things when they break down.

We probably don’t often think about what holds the stars and planets in place, or the gravity that keeps us attached to the earth. Unless we are involved in the planting or harvesting, we don’t think about the growing season that leads up to our enjoyment of the apples, oranges or broccoli readily available to us. We have so many reasons to be thankful. Yet, we take much for granted.

God sustains our lives in ways we can realize and understand, even though we often fail to consider them. He also preserves and protects us in ways that are not apparent. The same hand that provides so generously for us, holds back calamities we never see. God is intricately involved in our existence. When we submit our lives to Him, we can trust Him to fulfill His purposes. We can trust Him with the length of our lives, for He knows all the days He has planned for us (Psalm 139:16). So when we experience a delay in traffic, perhaps He is keeping us out of a particular intersection until a potential danger has passed. Or maybe He has kept a certain promotion out of our reach because of the unseen emotional destruction to the well-being of our family. The reality is, we don’t know what is around the next corner, or what the long-term effects of a decision may be. But we can trust the One who does know. He knows everything and we can trust Him to direct our paths according to His will for our lives. We can trust that His purposes are good.

We can be thankful for all He gives–and for all he withholds.

 

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to the Most High.  Psalm 92:1 NLT

 

Blessings,
Phyllis

I would love to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment below.

 

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Copyright 2023 Phyllis L. Farringer