A Place at the Table - 06 - Taking for Granted
God, You have given us so much, and if we fail to express our thanks, we might come to believe that we deserve all of these blessings. They come from You as gifts. Would You give us grateful hearts that lead us down a path of generosity? We are grateful for the warmth of the sun, the lessons learned from hard work, the peace found in a good night’s sleep, the rains that nourish the earth, the fantastical colors that charm our eyes, the tastes of delicacies both salty and sweet, and the unmatched fragrance of home. It all comes from You, God, as an extravagant display of Your love for us. Forgive us when we ignore it, and allow Your love to draw us near to You this day. Amen.
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I am reading a book called, “Its What I Do” - a memoir of a photographer about her life taking shots throughout the world. As I was reading this morning, I came across the following quote as she was writing about one of her experiences as a female on an assignment in Afghanistan under the Taliban pre-9/11.
It had been a mere four days since I’d arrived , and I wondered what the world had been doing since I’d left it. Afghanistan hid in a time capsule of war. Many Afghans had no idea how the rest of the world had advanced technologically. There were no foreign newspapers; there was no television news, and very little electricity, for that matter . I felt claustrophobic. Anxious. I hadn’t bathed once, and the stench of my sweat— a layer of filth— seeped through my clothes. I missed my dawn runs through Lodhi Gardens in New Delhi, passing the rotund Indians fixed in yoga poses. I missed my swims at the American Club and a frothy, cold beer at the end of the day at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club. I missed all the things I hadn’t realized I had grown to love. The things I hadn’t even been aware of before. Like my freedom.
As I read that, I thought how accurate that is - that often its not until we are in a situation where the things we are used to are gone that we realize how much we have to be thankful for and how much we take for granted. The cliched term that is used online now is “First World Problems” - things like not finding an open outlet in the airport, an order in a coffee house taking too long, wifi not working as we expect, and so forth. And yet, how many things are there as a part of our normal course of life that we don’t even think about - things like clean running water from our taps, piles of apples and produce at a local grocery store, consistent electricity at the flip of a switch, or a working refrigerator that we can fill with more than we need? I love what Seay challenges us today to do - “God has given you 86,400 seconds today - use as many as possible to say thanks.”
Psalm 136:1-9 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. O give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever; who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever; who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever; who spread out the earth on the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever; who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever; the sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever; the moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever.
As we give thanks, we must also offer those things up as prayers for those in the world without these things, but prayers not just for others to help relieve those needs, but us to do so as well.
For what are you thankful today?