Not long ago, one of my readers [rhymes with Mike] expressed surprise that I often write about thankfulness for things as opposed to people. I see his point. The Year of Gratitude theme calls us to write thank you notes to people each day this year. You wouldn't write a thank you note to your fluffy blue blanket. [I really love that fluffy blue blanket.]
Thank you, rhymes with Mike, for the wonderful work you do to help our Youth Missions and Family Ministries programs, and for inspiring this post.
But you can be thankful that you have a fluffy blue blanket. You can be keenly aware that people in the world are cold, and you have the great good fortune to be warm. You can thank the people who gave you the blanket as a loving Christmas gift last year and sometimes sneak off with it into their own rooms. [Yes, the blanket is that good.]
Thank you, Lindsey and Jeannette, for the fluffy blue blanket; now can I have it back, please?
Moreover [who uses words like "moreover" anymore?], I am thankful for everything and everyone who had a role in the creation of the aforementioned [the same people who say "aforementioned"] blanket. Weaving was a great forward step. Turning a plant into thread! Talk about BRILLIANT! You've seen cotton balls; you've heard fairy tales about spinning wheels; and looms--looms are great. God created cotton and God created people and made them AWESOME! Human creativity and invention, the outer expression of the Divine within, with roots dating back millennia, have had a part to play in the creation of my fluffy blue blanket.
Thank you, Edmund Cartwright, for inventing the power loom in 1785.
So when I am thankful for things, I hold in my heart everything and everyone it took to bring that thing about. And ultimately, God is the source of all our gifts. So, whenever you observe or hold some material object, be it useful or beautiful [or fluffy blue], and you think, "I'm so glad I have this thing," be thankful: Some person made it, and God made that person.
Dear God: I'm so glad I have this thing--Faith. Thank you.
My roommates were getting all righteous and snobby about not being "material people" and then went so far as to say, "Well, Micaela is the least materialistic of us all..."
ReplyDeleteI quickly corrected them. A nice cozy sweater can make my day. A pair of old leather boots found on sale can make my month!
I concluded with I am extremely thankful to have access to these so called "bad" material things. I don't necessarily need them, but it sure does make a cold snowy day happier, right? And when you're walking down the street in a nice sweater with good sturdy boots, you're much more likely to help the old lady cross the street (knowing you won't fall too) right? I struggle with this, but maybe my excuse is the more content (and warm) I am, the more generous and thankful I am to the world around me. Just a thought.
M