Like a lot of people, I love fall. New school year, new things to study, new things to write about. Thanksgiving—that’s always been one of my favorite days of the year.
So this year I’m going to go through the alphabet and think of things I am grateful for. And while I am obviously most thankful for my family and friends, and of course my God, they are off limits.
Maybe you can join me.
So as they say in first grade …
is for abundance. When we’d been married only a few years, we had a friend John had met in Poland stay with us for a summer. When we took her to the grocery store for the first time, she made it only as far as the parking lot. The sheer size of the building made her cry. The very thought of a building that big full of food was incomprehensible. Poland at that time still lived in fear of a unified Germany, and the thought of “What do you want for dinner?” was a foreign concept. And we have an abundance of not just food. Money, medicine, freedom, information, education—no matter what you may think of America, you cannot deny it is far better here in almost every way than almost anywhere else.
A is also for airplanes. This one is a no-brainer. Without air travel, I would not have three of my children. I couldn’t have traveled to bring them home, and they would still be in the baby houses in Kazakhstan. One might not even be alive, since we know a virus struck the baby house shortly after we left, leaving half the babies dead. Airplanes also let me visit my sister and brother, and other members of my extended family. They let us take the Gospel across the world. Generations ago when someone left, you didn’t see them again for maybe the rest of your life. How terrible would that be? Air travel has changed life as we know it, and allowed us to build a family, and for that I am eternally grateful.
What are you thankful for today?