​

Giving Thanks, In America.

​

​

​

In this world, 815 million people suffer from malnourishment (2018 World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics).  Back in 2005 an estimated 100 million of them were homeless (United Nations report 2005). Meanwhile, the privileged sit comfortably in their dwellings watching shows on how to make their sort of nice surroundings even nicer, and reading magazines on how to improve the nutritional status and the taste of food simultaneously.    

 

These privileged people, do peculiar things.  Blondes pay to become redheads, redheads to go brown, browns to go blonde.  Those with straight hair pay to curl it and those with curly hair, they pay for tools to straighten it.  Others spend their money, sometimes exorbitantly, to support a group of guys whom they have never met, but who happen to be really good at playing ball.  They are for the most part, not fond of paying equal amounts of money to a government built on the principles of freedom and inalienable rights, the very principles which allow them to experience the abundant lives they have.  

 

In this world, the sun shines on the privileged and the not so privileged, the just and the unjust, and things like disease and natural disaster level the playing field for all.  The world population is an estimated 7.6 billion people.  Just 4.28% of these people live in America. (Worldometers World Population Clock, November  2018).  America, though not immune to suffering, provides comforts we have become so accustomed to we have forgotten that alternatives exist.  As privileged people we are free to do peculiar things. This is not something to feel guilty about, it is something to be grateful for. This gratitude should at times, cause us to consider how we use the gifts we have been given.  Do we choose to give, and to forgive, even when it hurts? Do we choose to let go of regret and hold onto hope? Do we realize our lives and our resources are gifts we have been given, and are we wise in our stewardship?

 This Thanksgiving, be thankful if you are not among the 815 million people who suffer from malnourishment. Be thankful for a roof over your head if you have one, or thankful for the hope to have one if you do not.  If you are among the privileged, which you most likely are if you are able to read this, be grateful for that. Enjoy the privileges you have, for if you do not enjoy them, who will? Share of your abundance, with gratitude that you can share.  And as you give thanks for the many, many things for which you have to be thankful for, remember to Whom it is you are giving thanks. Give thanks not just to the air, but to the Giver of all good things. Know that you cannot outgive the One who first gave all things to you.  

​
 

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”  James 1:17

​

​