YOU'VE REALLY BEEN GOOD TO ME

Today is the last day of what some call a “Month of Thanksgiving.” Many have used this occasion to post a different thing every day for which they are thankful. I have enjoyed reading the diverse assortment of important things in the lives of my friends. One of the striking characteristics of their thankfulness is that very few material things were listed. We put so much importance on jobs, houses, automobiles, clothing and, of course, the latest electronics but when we actually take the time to give thanks, it is about friends, family, relationships, life and health.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to clean out the filing cabinet. Perched on a stool, with the shredder on the kitchen counter and a stack of file folders to sort, the purging began. It began as a methodical exercise; limiting the archives to this year’s statements, important contracts and year- end tax returns, shredding previous year’s paperwork and emptying the shredder, over and over. After the files were purged, shredded, renamed for new accounts and organized, I moved on to old check files. Ten years of old checks were just begging to be fed to the hungry shredder, when an attitude of gratitude inserted itself into the process.

I began to look at the canceled checks and realized they told the story of my life for the past 10 years. There were checks to mortgage companies paying for a house, a cottage and a church/office building. I had to take a praise break! Thank you Lord for a beautiful home, memories of summer fun at the cottage and for all the hearts that were touched and changed at the church. More checks, this time with the names of several friends and family members; birthdays, Christmas, weddings, anniversaries, new babies and other special occasions. Thank you Lord for each person you have allowed to share my life and thank you for allowing me to bless them as they have blessed me. I moved on to checks for utilities, insurance, home maintenance, car payments all of which I’m sure were complained about at the time but now represented a bounty of blessings from God. Another praise break! I’m thankful for warmth in the winter, cool air in the summer, the freedom to travel short and long distances and the finances to cover all the repairs. There were payments to doctors, dentists, and even the government. Thank you for good health, root canals and caps and enough wealth to pay taxes. (Not happy about the taxes but thankful for a good job.) Finally, there were checks to charities and tithes and offerings to church. Thank you, God that you provided all of our needs, many of our wants and enough to share with those less fortunate. You really cannot out give God.

As I returned to the task of shredding, my heart was overwhelmed by the goodness of God. He truly is Jehovah-Jireh, my provider. The “Month of Thanksgiving” may have come to an end but the gratefulness continues year round. Lord, you’ve really been good to me.