I guess the question I have been mulling over in my mind the last few weeks as we head into the Thanksgiving regimen--special church service, "thanks" notes to my special friends and family, preparation for THE day and THE meal...etc, is...
Do I need a holiday to remember to be thankful?
Well, the honest answer is I do need occasional prodding. I am haunted by the story of the lepers (Luke 17) who are miraculously healed by Jesus and only one--ONLY ONE--returns to thank Jesus. His response? "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return to give praise to God except for this foreigner (he was a Samaritan)?"
What really gets me is the only thankful one was the one you would have least expected to give thanks to God--a Samaritan, hated by the Jews. He was estranged from his Jewish neighbors, excluded because of his heritage as well as his disease. Still, he finds his way back to Jesus to give thanks, while the nine others--perhaps feeling"entitled" to healing because of their ancestry--forget to do so.
I hope I don't feel entitled, or, expect that I should be well-fed, have a nice home, drive a car, have televisions and computers in my home, own more than five pair of shoes, etc., because I am American, or, because I try to live a good moral life.
I have what I have because God has been good to me. Not because of who I am or what I have done. If that were the case, I'd still be a leper.
That's why I was thankful two weeks ago...long before the holiday season reminded me to have a grateful heart.
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