I Am Thankful

As our Thanksgiving holiday weekend draws to an end, I have been reflecting on what I am thankful for in my life.

After a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with friends, where I filled myself with more food than I needed, I am thankful that I have never been hungry.  There were times as a young adult when I had difficulty making enough to live on, but I always had family to help me out.  I realize that being grateful for this is not enough.  As a person with enough to eat, and as a Christian, I need to work for anti-hunger programs to ensure that others can eat, too, both here in this country and around the world.  There is enough food on this earth to feed everyone—the problem is distribution and politics.

I am thankful for relatively good health and I am thankful for health insurance.  I am so much more aware of my health after undergoing gall bladder surgery this past summer.  Suddenly my life became overwhelmed with medical tests and uncertainty.  The one thing I didn't have to worry about was paying medical bills since my insurance covered the vast majority of them.  What would I have done without insurance?  I am unemployed and my husband is retired.  I really don’t know—I think I might have postponed surgery and struggled along for a while.  Everybody deserves basic health care.  As citizens we must all work to improve access to health care and bring the costs down.

I am thankful for my church family which has become even more important since our biological family is far away.  We come together once a week or more to study, discuss, worship, and pray.  We share each other’s highs and lows, celebrating or lending support.  The love that moves among us brings me great joy.  Together we work to carry that love out into the world.

There are so many more things I could add to this list.  I was born in the U.S.A.—that makes me privileged.  I live a comfortable life and I am loved.  I have choices and opportunities that others in this world don’t have.  If I am truly thankful for my good life, I believe I should work for mercy and justice for the people in this world who are not so fortunate.