A Thankful Heart

"You never know how good you have it until it's gone...gone!"  Aunt Esther used to remind us, frequently starting to cry as she repeated "gone."  She had a long and sometimes hard life.  She was born in 1900, before the first airplane flew and the Titanic sank.  She was from a different era, and she saw many things come and go before her death in 2009.  Though she now too has passed on, her advice on thankfulness has stayed with me.

I was reminded of it again this Thursday morning when I temporarily lost my voice due to a mild cold.  I wanted to sing a song; I wanted to talk with my family; I wanted to call my grandparents; but all I could manage was an occasional whisper.  I generally have very good health (thank the Lord), so this rarely happens; it's certainly a reminder of how thankful I should be for my voice!

It's easy to take a lot of the wonderful things God has given us for granted; we sometimes are guilty of complaining when in reality we have everything so good!  We 21st century Americans are particularly spoiled.  We have clean running hot and cold water at every faucet, electricity, more food than we know what to do with, high speed internet connections, good medical care, and nice warm homes.  We haven't had foreign troops invading our soil since the war of 1812.  Many of us have loving families and good health.

We have everything to thank God for. We need to appreciate all the Lord has done for us and give Him the credit.

God hates it when people who are very blessed complain and turn their backs on Him.  God said to Israel in Deuteronomy 28, "Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee."

Take a moment to tell the Lord how much you appreciate all the wonderful things He has done for you today.  In every circumstance there is always something for which we can be grateful.  The Lord always sends a ray of sunshine and a beam of hope.  Thank Him!