Dec 7, 2010

A Belated Thanks-Giving


It’s been a long almost-7-months.  My husband is coming home so soon!  Yesterday, while I was in a bad mood and irritable because I’ve been having trouble sleeping, I was walking back to work after my lunch-time Starbucks run, and passed by a woman outside her car in the corner of the parking lot.  And it reminded me how much I have to be thankful for.

The woman was so thin.  It was clear she must be so hungry.  Calling her car a “car” at all is probably being generous.  It was packed to the ceiling with her belongings, and several of the windows had been broken and were covered with plastic bags and duct tape.  She wasn’t wearing any shoes as she hobbled over to another car and used their driver-side mirror to glance at her reflection after snuffing out her cigarette on the roof of their brightly shining sedan.  As I walked by, wondering at her situation, I noticed cans and bottles outside her car.  And underneath the car, likely being shaded from the intense Hawaiian sun, was an uncovered, half-eaten sheet cake that I suspect she’s been eating for a few days. 

There’s this other man I see literally every day after work.  He sits in the shade of the parking garage with his little dog.  Bless his heart, a while back I saw him at Starbucks (!) asking for a cup of water, which he promptly took outside and gave to his little pup.  If I was really generous and self-less, I might have stopped and offered to either one of these people a sandwich or just spoken to them like a valued human being rather than passing by, hoping not to smell their filth or be otherwise affected by the deprived state which our depraved world has placed them in.

Instead, I’m ashamed to say, I did nothing.  The Lord graciously reminded me in that moment of how much I have to be thankful for, which is particularly cliché this time of year.  But how can I keep from giving thanks to Him?  I have a home in paradise (with AC!), a car that works most of the time, a job, and a wonderful husband who is coming home to me.  I know for a fact that there are several wives from his unit whose husbands are not returning this week, having been tragically lost overseas.  I have MUCH to thank the Lord for.

Let’s take this beyond coffee….yes, I’m sitting here in ANOTHER coffee shop as I write…what can you be thankful for this year?  It’s not cliché.  Our world is just so used to complaining and whining and being ungrateful that the idea of a season which reminds us to be thankful is simply a bit odd.  The endless slew of TV specials and Hallmark movies don’t help.  We have reason to be thankful every day of the year.  So take a moment and thank the Lord for the little things in your life, like the AC, and the big things, like having your loved ones safe and sound.  And when you’re done, consider how you might be used in someone else’s life this season.  As for me, I’m considering buying a sandwich and some dog food :)