We view complaining about what we don’t have as a far more interesting topic of conversation than giving thanks for what we do have. A stranger looking at our lives from the outside and hearing our complaints is liable to believe that we have nothing at all!
We speak like people who have never had anything go right for them in their entire lives. The world is difficult to be sure and there is undoubtedly a lot that goes wrong. But we act like we have nothing to celebrate at all. That is simply not true.
If we have nothing at all we have the life giving breath of God and hope for a better tomorrow. Some of us have food to eat and water to drink. Some of us boast of shelter, a roof over our heads at night. Some still have jobs that provide for us and our families. We have the blessings of our good health and the strength to do all the things we set our mind to everyday. We have friends and family who love us and care for us, whose thoughts never leave us.
I guess when compared to the wealth and glamour that we are envious of in the world around us these things seem like nothing. But even one of these things is something to be thankful for and many of us have much more than these.
Today, let us thank God for all the blessings in our lives because none of them are too small for gratitude, none of them are by our power, and none of them can be negated by difficult times.