One evening last week Josh's team won their little league game. So, in following local tradition we went with the team to a local ice cream joint to celebrate. On the way, the younger three siblings were begging and pleading for milk shakes too! I was willing to buy them ice cream but, I wanted to get them cones because they were cheaper. Each time I said I would get them cones, they would rebel and again demand a shake! So, I began to lecture them on being thankful that they were even going to get ice cream at all!! I said, "Do you realize there are kids in other countries who have never even tasted ice cream!!! YOU should be THANKFUL you are even getting ice cream at all!!!"
While we were hanging out, outside the ice cream place with all the other winning teams, a group of kids come running around the corner of the building yelling "HOBO! HOBO!" The kids had been creeping around behind the building and thought they had seen a homeless person hiding back there. It soon piqued the interest of all the kids and they made a game of running behind the building trying to get a glimpse of the homeless person they thought they saw.
After my latest lecture to my kids on thankfulness I could not help but think how this just fit right in to my theme of the evening......being aware that they are blessed to have what they have! Life does not just guarantee that you will have a home or get ice cream. These are privileges that should not be so easily taken for granted.
A few days after our evening of celebratory ice cream we were at a family reunion with my husband's family. He has family from the Joplin Missouri area. We had an opportunity to hear first hand the devastation they have recently witnessed. Jason's Aunt Terri was sharing with me how she was vacuuming her carpet one day and thought how dirty it was. She said "Then, I thought to myself, at least I have carpet to vacuum." So many of those around her no longer had a floor to vacuum!
That conversation hit me like a ton of bricks! I had lectured my kids about kids in Africa who had never tasted ice cream.....but have I been truly thankful all that I have in my life?? As I contemplated the concept of thankfulness I could not help but think about the verse Philippians 4:12 "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." I believe that a key to thankfulness is learning to be content with what you have. Not looking to the next best thing, or day dreaming about what it is that I want next. Just taking account of what I DO have and being content with that, thankful for it. Not looking at the long list of things that need to be fixed in our hundred year old house and feeling frustrated about it but, being content that I have a warm (or cool) home with a roof over my head. A safe place to raise my kids while making memories in our home! I need to change my perspective on the days when I am worn out from working all day then running to the kids' ball games. At least I have a job, and my kids are healthy and able to play ball!
So, a week after my lecture to my kids.....I am sure I have learned a lot more than they did about thankfulness!! May I not soon forget it!
"Continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as your were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." Colossians 2:7
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