Lord, I Thank You for What I Do Not Have?

Man it has been a while, sorry. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

This is a wonderful time of year! This is a time when we are reminded to be thankful for all the we have and even all that we do not have. We can be thankful for the great things we have in our lives and thankful for the not-so-great things that we do not have in our lives. Sometimes we focus so much on being thankful for what we have that we forget to be grateful for the unpleasant things that we do not have. There are so many reasons to be thankful for not having these things in our lives beyond just that it makes our lives more comfortable and enjoyable.. For one it helps us to be satisfied with what we do have. Two it helps to remind us to be thankful year-round because misfortune never takes a holiday, but then neither does good fortune when our perspective is right. Also, it reminds us to pray for those at home and around the world who do have those hard things to deal with in their lives.
We should also be thankful for some of the things that we do not have in our lives that we would like to have. Because not having them means that we are not ready for them or cannot handle them right now and this is God's way of looking out for us by not letting us have something that will hurt us. We live in a culture that is obsessed with having stuff. Learning to become thankful for what we do not have is countercultural, but if we do that then a lot of the stuff that we don't want (ie. bills, stress over stuff, and money issues) will not become ours. If we can find a way to be thankful for not having some stuff then we will learn to be thankful for what we do have and this will prevent us from becoming a person obsessed with getting more stuff.
Maybe this simplicity is part of the abundant life Jesus talked about in John 10:10?

Happy Thanksgiving Day!
and remember, be thankful everyday, in every prayer!