Remainders of this year's 13.9 lb Turkey. Gobble gobble indeed!
How successful, or discomforting does our life need to be for us to be thankful? Are there kudos in life if we are more thankful? If so, who measures how thankful we are? How many designer accessories must a girl have before she can consider herself blessed? And how sickly do we need to be before we realize how healthy we were before we got sick?
I ask these questions I swear it’s not because I’m trying to be annoying, but because I’m trying to figure out the common denominator of thankfulness. I know that everyone is different –either in social class, gender, race, financial situations, family background, lack of family background, etc. –but despite all the different responses we might get if we ask random people on the street what they’re thankful for, being TRULY thankful wouldn’t be about what we have (because that will vary drastically) but coming to the realization of what we don’t deserve….right?
If I hold on to this theory of what being truly thankful means, then I fail at being thankful all the time, because I think I deserve everything good that’s happened to me.
I was born into a family that loves and accepts me for who I am and what I choose to do. I’m constantly surrounded by people who believe in me and encourage me to be better. My friends are proud of me. From financial struggles, emotional breakdowns, and spiritual discoveries, these areas have been more than blanketed.
All of this is my everyday. Everyday I know this. Everyday I live this. Everyday there’s food on the table. Everyday my mother is only a phone call away. Everyday I come home and can find rest in my very comfortable bed. Everyday I wake up and go to work with people that put a smile on my face. Everyday I know there’s a purpose. Everyday has the potential to be mundane, or not. Everyday there’s life.
Blessings have become such a routine that I’m conditioned to think that I’m deserving of it all. How can I be thankful then, if I believe that I deserve all of this? –my job, my clothes, my relationships, my family, my health. How can thankfulness be measured then? Because if it’s by stuff then I think our current socioeconomic status could determine my thankfulness level.
Where is this going? I’m not sure. But I know this one very tiny but big thing. I can only be truly thankful not because of what I have. I can only be truly thankful because I know I don’t deserve any of it.
