Christian Living

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"Eat your broccoli and be thankful you have something to eat. Don't you know there are starving children in India?" How many times did you hear your mother say that to you growing up? Or better, how many times have you said that to your own child? The not-so-subtle message is that, compared to the rest of the world, we have a lot to be thankful for... or, do we? Is comparing our plight to others' the true measure of thankfulness?

When we lived overseas as missionaries, we met these so-called "starving children" but not in India, in Russia. They came to our home, snooped inside our cupboards and invaded our kitchen. But it was more out of curiosity than hunger. They said we were "rich" because our daughters each had a doll and drank juice instead of tea. But that didn't seem to matter to them because they continued to come and play with our daughters. Secretly I felt sorry for our "deprived" little Russian friends until the day they invited us to their home. What I learned, I will never forget.

It was a one-room wooden apartment. These girls lived there with their parents, baby brother, teenage uncle and grandmother. Seven of them shared that one room no bigger than a closet! On the stove was a tin bucket of boiled potatoes which provided a full day's meal. Beside it was a large basin of water for washing and on the corner of the room was a table with a tea kettle and a few chipped cups. Water had to be drawn from a pump on the street and their bathroom was an outhouse. They were the poorest of the poor but, much to my surprise, their disposition didn't reflect their circumstances.

Instead they were the warmest, most hospitable and least deprived people I had ever met! They entertained our family and graciously offered us dinner--boiled potatoes and tea. But what struck me the most was that they were genuinely thankful for everything they had and were so happy they had enough to share with their American friends! Now I wondered... were they thankful because they knew people who were worse off than them? Did they not see their sparse surroundings? Or did they know the secret of being content?

I once got a greeting card that read, "I cried because I had no shoes until I saw someone who had no feet." Sure, it is easy to be thankful when our circumstances are better than our neighbor's. But comparisons are dangerous because we come out better or we come out worse. Either way it distorts our perspective in life which leads to discontent. But is it possible to be thankful without comparing ourselves to others? Paul in the Bible gave us the secret to being content when he said, "I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of contentment in every situation...for I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power." (Philippians 4:12-13)

Being thankful means choosing to acknowledge God in everything regardless of whether we have more or less than the people around us. It is choosing to focus on God, the source of all blessings, instead of focusing on our circumstances. The true measure of thankfulness means finding contentment in what we have because of God's goodness and grace. It is His will for our lives. Through His strength, being thankful is a piece of cake... or a piece of broccoli-whichever you or your child needs to be thankful for.

Lorraine Saxon
November 2003

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