In Thanksgiving

          With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I cannot help but think how blessed my life is. I live in a nation of relative peace and freedom. I have always had a roof over my head, more than enough nutritious food on my table and plenty of money to live a comfortable life. Neither my husband nor my son have had to go off to war. I spend my days doing things I love. My health is good. Toddler Ellie and my four dogs surround me with their love and never fail to warm my heart. All in all, my life is fairly easy. I have lived, what one anonymous author calls, an enchanted life.

           I rise in the morning and am free to worship God as I choose. I live with little fear of my home being fire bombed, my family being murdered, my freedoms suddenly being snatched away. God has been generous and has indeed rained his blessings down upon me and my family.

          Such thoughts and thanksgivings always bring me round to the same succeeding  thought, why am I so blessed when others are not? Why has God given me such blessings yet seemingly turned his face from others who struggle to feed and protect their families, to live in safety and peace?  Why am I so fortunate when so many others are not?

          The answer, I think, is in the very essence of God's generosity and in our response to that generosity. Were it not for all the people who have reached out to us, loved and cared for us during our lives, none of us would be find ourselves in the positions we are. The more I ponder the ramifications of Jesus' command to us to love our neighbors even as we love ourselves, and the more soul searching I  do, the deeper becomes my understanding of how important it is that I follow that commandment even when it takes me into situations and places that are unpopular and sometimes unsafe.

          At a time when the world seems to be filled with more hatred, lies and fear than we have ever known, it is much easier for us to feed off those three things than it is to feed off the love and goodness of God. Like a mother who cares for all her children, God loves all of her divine creation. God does not call us to be fools, but neither does God call us to turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. As we prepare to gather at our tables with food piled high, let us also gather to consider how we are called to share God's generosity and love with the rest of this world. Amen.