Image by Pink Sherbet Photography via FlickrThanksgiving always brings thoughts of blessings too numerous to count. Easily, I can identify what I have been so graciously given often without truly deserving these blessings. But it is what I did not get or what did not happen that perhaps makes me even more grateful.
So this Thanksgiving, I want to remember to thank God for the times He has spared me what could have been tragic news; for the illnesses that I didn't have, the financial ruin that did not come my way, the losses I have not experienced. I am grateful I have not lost a loved one in combat or a child before they were born.Thank you for the times you allowed me to avoid the accidents that could have happened, the mistakes that could have cost me more than I realized, the train wrecks that might have been. I am blessed to have avoided many catastrophes by the protection of an Almighty God.
Thank you for redirecting me from dysfunctional people and/or circumstances that would have left my life far different from the one I know. Thank you for your mercy when my judgments were poor and for your grace allowing outcomes brighter than I might have expected. Thank you for not allowing abuse, intolerance or disrespect into my relationship with my spouse or children. I am grateful to have never known abandonment.
I am so very thankful that I do not know hunger or homelessness. Things so easily had by many; unemployment, long term illnesses, tragic events, separation from loved ones because of war or other circumstances were not mine to have. I am blessed that I do not have to wash in a public shelter, scavenge through garbage for my next meal or sleep under an overpass. You have kept famine, torture and violence from my daily routines. Yes, I am so grateful for the things that might have been; but for the grace of God.
How about you? Can you offer a thanks for what you do not have to deal with? It is not what you have that is always the blessing but perhaps what you have avoided.
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