Thanksgiving ~ A week late

I really am thankful... even though I'm writing my post a week after the holiday.  That is unless you are reading from the USA, in which case I'm still about six weeks early :).

I'm thankful for a lot, and I have a lot to be thankful for.  On Thanksgiving Sunday, my pastor made a statement in his sermon that really stuck out to me.  He said "Thoughtlessness destroys Thankfulness."  I thought that was good.  He read a passage from Deuteronomy 8, where it talks about Israel being in the Promised Land, becoming full and wealthy and blessed by God, but then forgetting about God.

We live in a society that has so much!  I have so much!  I have a house, a car, a fridge, a stove, indoor plumbing, to many a lot of clothes, food, heat, furniture, books, cleaning supplies, kleenex, shoes, money, and the list could go on.  Not to mention a business, freedom, accessibility to whatever I need whenever I need it, family, and the list could STILL go on!  We (and I include myself in that) are very prone to becoming forgetful.  It's so easy for us in Canada.  SO EASY!  All we need to do is pick up the phone and we can have a hot meal delivered right to our house.  In some countries people don't even know when they will get their next meal!

And yet we complain.  We complain that the pizza delivery guy is slow.  We complain about line-ups in Wal mart.  We complain that we have to pay so much to have the oil changed in our car.  We complain about taxes.  We complain about the weather (at least we don't have to sleep outside in it)!  We are dissatisfied, and yet we have so much.

Earlier this year post-secondary students in Quebec protested for weeks about the government's plan to increase tuition.  Quebec already has the lowest tuition rates in the country.  Students rallied, demanded, and finally got their way.  They would walk through the streets banging on pots and pans.  Most of the protests were peaceful, but some were not.  This just proves how UNTHANKFUL our society is!  These young people felt entitled to what THEY wanted.  Was it unfair for the government to increase tuition?  Maybe.  But, maybe they should have just stopped for a minute and realized the amazing privilege they have of even attending university.  There are hundreds of thousands and maybe even millions of young people all over the world who would give everything just for that chance!  I think it would have benefited these students greatly to spend a few months in a third world country like Haiti.  Maybe then they would be more appreciative of what they had.

We need to be thankful.  We ought to be thankful.  Not just at Thanksgiving, but all throughout the year.  We have SO much!