Happy Thanksgiving!
Well, we find ourselves at this time again. The time of turkeys and pumpkins, Indians and pilgrims. The time we really try to crack down on a diet, even if it’s just a week, to prepare for the mass amounts of food we plan to inhale tomorrow on Thanksgiving day. The time we gather with family and friends to celebrate what we are thankful for in life. The time we remember to slow down in the midst of the holiday bustle and thank God for his good gifts.
Back in the states, deep reds and oranges are replacing bright yellows and greens. Flannels and boots are beginning to replace bathing suits and flip-flops, and pumpkin spice lattes are replacing frappuccinos. Usually, I’d be hopping on the hayride bandwagon and diving into that pile of leaves with everyone else, but this year it’s different.
This year I’m celebrating in Peru. Trees are still green, and it’s hot enough that you want to be wearing as little as world race dress code allows, holding an ice-cold water bottle to your face. This year, I get to celebrate with my brothers and sisters in Christ that make up my squad family and start some new traditions. This year it’s different in the best way possible, and I have so much to be thankful for!
Though I miss everything that Fall brings with it back home, being removed from those things this year has provided me lots of time to reflect on what I’m deeply thankful for. The nature of this trip, from simple living out of a backpack to spending the majority of our time in poor areas, has shed lots of light on what is necessary to a life a gratefulness. Main ingredient: a heart that chooses thankfulness and joy in every situation. Living abroad has created space from things I took for granted and allowed me to realize the simplest and the not so simple things I’m grateful for. And it’s a long list – one for every day of this month.
1. A triune God who is infinitely greater than what I can imagine
2. A God who desires to live in community with me
3. My family – parents who have raised me with love and discipline and who instilled biblical values in me, and siblings who I can call best friends
4. Friends – the people who I get to live in community with outside my family
5. Nature – all of it; beaches, mountains, trees, animals, etc.
6. Laughter – the best medicine, best way to get out of awkward situations, and best way to bring joy to your day
7. Color and the ability to see it
8. A healthy body that can enjoy all the adventure God has set before me
9. A world worth traveling – God outdid himself when he created the earth, and to top it off, he filled it with incredible people
10. Where I came from and where I’m going
11. Everything from the past that God has been healing and renewing, and everything he’s growing in me in the present
12. Coffee – ’nuff said
13. Art and design, and the ability God has given me to create
14. Beauty – God himself is the greatest artist and has created so many beautiful hints for us to enjoy
15. Fruit and vegetables
16. Rest
17. A faithful God that always provides in he best way he sees fit for his children
18. The family of believers around the world
19. Music
20. A God who loves us too much to allow us to be stuck where we are in life, so he challenges us and stretches us to become the best he’s made us to be
21. Food and grocery stores – it’s difficult to find a lot of things out here, never again will I take American grocery stores for granted
22. Technology and wifi that keep us connected all around the world
23. God’s unfailing love, wonderful deeds, and good gifts (psalms 107)
24. Long conversations with loved ones back home – oh the joy and encouragement and refreshment it brings
25. Books – becoming more of a reader this year, so that’s been fun
26. The capacity we have to remember things, and all the amazing memories I have to call my own
27. The capacity we have to experience things in crazy ways – through our 5 senses and in the depths of our being
28. Washer machines and dryers – I did laundry today by hand and it reminded me of how thankful I am for all the machines we have to make life a little more efficient…but there’s also something beautiful about doing it by hand too, feeling accomplished
29. That smiles, love, and a little bit of charades can easily cross any language barrier
30. That our good God was so full of love and grace, that even to a world who would reject him, he sent his son to bridge the gap and make a way for us to come home!
…and I guess an extra thing that God has been teaching me to be thankful for is all the things he’s doing that I know nothing about. His ways are so much greater than my own and every second he is doing something I’m not aware of that I can be thankful for. I wonder how many trials he’s not let touch my life because of his love for me, or how many circumstances where I thought things went wrong were exactly as he planned it to keep something worse from happening…it’s all so crazy how the God of the universe takes notice to even the smallest of things in our lives.
God has truly given us so many things to be thankful for. The list could go on and on. So as tomorrow approaches, though it’s difficult not being at home with family and enjoying the fall season, I couldn’t be more thankful for where God has me. Give thanks to the Lord and praise his holy name!
“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” – Psalm 107:1 (8-9, 15-16, 21-22, 31-32)
I pray that during this season, and always, you will find enumerous things to be thankful for! Despite the trials and hardships, God has always given us something to be be grateful for. I challenge you and encourage you to give God the space in heart to make it one that is full of gratefulness, it really changes the way you see life!
For Christ and his kingdom, may we live with hearts of continual thankfulness,
Susan
