Lately I have been thinking about all the things I have to be grateful for in my life, but I have also noticed how many things I seem to complain about–most of which are not really a big deal.
Most of which are truly 1st-world issues that I’ll bet 2/3 of the people on this planet never really worry about. I’ll complain about a toilet that’s running…again… and then be reminded of how many people in the world lack sanitation and would say, “you own a toilet–of your own?!” Where’s my gratitude?
Or I’ll complain about the Trader Joe’s running out of my favorite no-stir almond butter and remember that the breadth of food choices that I/we enjoy here in America, regardless of our income level, is staggering. Much of the world’s population is just excited to eat today, much less worry about super specific brand choice. Yikes…
A Lesson in Gratitude
[Here’s a cool Thanksgiving guide to sharing your thankfulness around the table with family and friends this year.]
Years ago I was serving on a team that was delivering food supplies to starving people in South Sudan and experienced a situation, and had a conversation that forever changed my understanding of what true gratitude and thankfulness looks like and where it is found.
One day while we were distributing beans and rice in a refuge camp near the border of Uganda, I met a boy who looked to be about twelve years old.
“Who are you?” I asked him.
His name was James. He was tall and super-thin. Just like everyone else in this camp, he had lived through near-starvation and brutal attacks by militant rebels that had decimated his village. I noticed that his left hand and arm were scarred and disfigured, and he had a large patch of hair missing that seemed to have been burned off at some point in the past.
I asked our translator if he knew what had happened to the boy. He asked James to tell me his story.
James shared that a few months earlier he and his two brothers were walking with their parents when they were attacked by radical Islamic soldiers. His parents were hacked to death with machetes right before their eyes. Because they were Christians. The soldiers then threw him and his two brothers onto a large pile of burning garbage.
His brothers died in the fire that day, but James somehow managed to crawl out of the fire and escape with his life.
He then went on to tell me how grateful he was!
I’m not kidding.
He was thankful that God had spared his life against all odds that dreadful day. He knew that he would one day see his family again in heaven and that they were in a safe place now with Jesus. I was blown away.
I wept like a baby.
Here’s a picture I took of James holding a picture of my son Caesar, who was the same age at the time.
What a contrast!
As I spent more time with James and other Christians in the refugee camp that day, I couldn’t help but notice they exhibited unbelievable joy. Yes, joy.
They were the happiest people I had ever been with in my life.
Amid the war, horrible famine, and persecution they suffered on a daily basis, these brothers and sisters were filled with a sense of peace and joy that I had never personally experienced. Shouldn’t I, with all of my American health, wealth, and comfort be happier and more grateful than them?
I remember crying out to God, “I would trade everything I have to experience the joy they find in you!”
And God replied, Then do.
It’s All about Jesus
James and the other Sudanese Christians I spent time with had no possessions, no country, no homes, and in some cases, no earthly families. They had nothing temporal to put their hope in. But they had found the only thing that truly satisfies the human heart: Jesus. They didn’t have or need material possessions to be happy, and there was nothing profound for them to do.
They had found their very life—their identity, purpose and joy—in Jesus.
It is Jesus who pursues, secures, and maintains our position in the family of God. He died that we might be restored to a right relationship with his Father, back into the family we were originally created to be a part of. He gave his all that we may have all.
It’s all about Jesus.
Where Do We Find Our Gratitude?
So this made we wonder, do I–do we–find our happiness, security, and purpose in our stuff and from what we do—or rather, is Jesus enough? If all we had was him in our life, would we possess true joy and gratitude? Would that allow us to see all other good things and people in our life as directly from Him and a total undeserved bonus?
This year I really want to grow in a moment-by-moment gratitude that comes from knowing that I am loved and secure because of Jesus, and that everything good in my life comes from him.
So, if like me you can tend to lose focus on what we truly have to be thankful for, the next best time to return to the true source of our gratitude and joy is now.
Here’s a cool Thanksgiving guide to sharing your thankfulness around the table with family and friends this year. It’s a little different than anything I’ve seen before. It’s free: Get My Free Thanksgiving Guide Now!
