As we move from a time of Thanksgiving to a time of Advent I’m doing my best to keep that attitude of thankfulness in my spirit. Thanksgiving turns commercial so fast now, we don’t even have to wait for “Black Friday” to lose the spirit of Thanksgiving. We can move to an attitude of entitlement so quickly.
Advent is that time on the Christian calendar leading up to Christmas when we celebrate the coming of our Lord and Savior. It’s so much more than Christmas. So we celebrate Advent (the coming), not just Christmas (the season).
And how can one not be thankful during this time of the year. Jesus truly is the greatest gift of all. I know it’s a cliché now because it’s so overstated, but it’s true. God so loved the world that he gave us Jesus, the son of God, as a gift to bring salvation to the world. Even if we receive nothing else from the hand of God for ever and ever for the rest of our lives, it’s enough.
I was at the grocery store this weekend and happened to overhear a couple discussing how many kids would a box of mac and cheese feed. I don’t know that they were necessarily poor, but my impression was that they weren’t just trying to make sure they had enough. They were trying to see how far one box could go.
I was at the grocery store this weekend and was thinking about how many days until the next payday, and worrying about the bills that need to be paid and the Christmas presents that haven’t been bought. And I looked down at my cart with my organic lemons and bananas, and my carton of cage-free organic chicken broth, and I thought about the people worrying about where their next meal is coming from.
So I began counting my blessings. Yes finances may be tight for us right now, and there may not be as many presents under the tree this Christmas as I’d like, but I didn’t have to worry about having enough to pay for what was in my cart.
I was reminded to be thankful for what I have, to look at the glass as half-full and not as half-empty, to remember that my half-empty is more than a lot of people’s “full.”
And I was reminded to be thankful this Christmas, for what I have, for what I don’t have, and most of all for what I have been given.