Fanny Crosby serves as a wonderful example of gratitude. This most unusually talented lady, blind from the age of six, spent a lifetime writing the words to a good many of the songs in our hymnal. As a child, she penned the following lines:
Oh, what a happy child I am, Although I cannot see!
I am resolved that in this world, Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy, That other people don’t.
To weep and sigh because I’m blind, I cannot, and I won’t.
Yet many of us, blessed with two good eyes and a life overflowing with spiritual and physical abundance, find it difficult to be thankful.
We must learn to look for blessings even in adverse situations, to be thankful regardless of the circumstances of the moment. John Ruskin had the right idea when he wrote, “Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating; there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.”
That, in a wonderfully packaged nutshell, is the spirit of thanksgiving. What goes on around us is not nearly as important as what we allow to go on within us!
Consider the thankful heart of Paul, the apostle: Paul, confined within a dark, damp, dank prison cell, imprisoned unjustly for doing nothing more than preaching Christ, bruised and battered from years of adversity, penned the following: “Always rejoice in the Lord. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your graciousness be known to all men. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God, and God’s peace, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, as many things as are true, as many things as are honorable, as many things as are right, as many things as are pure, as many things as are lovely, and as many things as are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there is anything praiseworthy, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:4-8, McCord.) Let’s all be truly thankful this year – and all though the year. Have a happy and safe holiday!