This November, what have we got to be grateful about? Israel is at war, Russia is still attacking Ukraine, prices are up, another presidential campaign season has begun, it hasn’t rained enough, we’re worried about retirement…the list of complaints goes and grows. Complaining and worrying come easily to us.
How can we be thankful THIS year?
Here are two thoughts that unite around the idea of “perspective.” I find that if I put things into perspective, it’s easy to find my gratitude. Here’s what I mean:
First, consider this instance from Matthew Henry’s life. Henry (1662—1714) was an English Presbyterian minister and wrote the classic Commentary on the Whole Bible. His sermons and books have taught the Church for 300 years. On a night long ago, Matthew Henry wrote these words in his journal. He had been mugged, robbed in the street, that day. It was a good reason to be upset, or frustrated, or fearful. But see what he wrote:
“Let me be thankful—first, because I was never robbed before; Second, because although they took my wallet, they did not take my life; Third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and Fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed. *
Matthew Henry’s ability to grasp perspective, to analyze his situation, helped him to express gratitude, even though he had been robbed.
Second, Helen Keller (1880-1968) lost her sight and her hearing when she was only 2 years old. Trapped in a private world, Helen had every reason to sit down and quit and be angry with God. Instead, she conquered her disabilities, achieved a trail-blazing education, wrote dozens of books and articles, advocated for the blind, helped establish the American Civil Liberties Union, met several US presidents and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. A film on her life won the Academy Award in 1955. She received honorary doctorates from Glasgow, Harvard, and Temple Universities.
Helen used words to accomplish things thought impossible for someone who was blind and deaf. She frequently said, “I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.”
That’s perspective. And perspective leads us to Thanksgiving.
Before you focus on the things that you don’t have or the things that have gone wrong, realize all that you do have. Comprehend that God has made many things go right for you for many, many years.
And join me at our Church’s Thanksgiving table as we say together..
Thank God! Bro Jonathan
* from page 88, Stories for the Heart, compiler Alice Gray
Leave a Reply