Thankful.

So often I take for granted all of the gifts I've been given. Sometimes I think that because I've never suffered, I can't be a true Christian, for all Christians suffer. But this just enables me to see all of my blessings as hindrances. I don't thank God for everything he's given me; I complain about my 'good' life. I'm glad that we have a holiday every year on which I am reminded of the many, many reasons I have to be thankful. It may be overly commercialized; it may have no real point; it may lie about history...

... but it serves to remind us, at least once a year, that we are blessed.

I celebrated Thanksgiving tonight with my small group from church here in St. Andrews. I was the only American. It felt wonderful to share a bit of my culture and a few of my family traditions in a different culture with new friends. As we sat around the table eating pumpkin pie, I felt overwhelmed with thankfulness. I am thankful that my dad could afford to send me here. I am thankful that my parents know the value of education and cross-cultural experiences. I am thankful that they love me enough to let me go. I am thankful for my brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. I will always have a home, a family, in them.

I am thankful for languages (and having a knack for them). We live in a world full of special little histories. I am thankful that languages are the window into those histories.

I am thankful for the friends from all over the world who have taken the time and energy to get to know me, to care about me. I am thankful that Texas, Tennessee, Scotland, and Greece have given me those friends.

I am thankful that I hail from the greatest state, but that I have the opportunity to study in the greatest city. I am thankful that every place is different.

I am thankful for music and for words and for the ways that those mediums allow us to express our most intimate thoughts.

I am thankful for family, for their unconditional support and love. I am thankful that I have been blessed with the best nephews and niece there ever were. I am thankful that I have siblings to fight with and to trust. I am thankful for my large extended family and that they are intentional about seeing one another.

I am thankful for the countless examples in my life. Those people have influenced me in a very real way.

Finally, I am thankful for the cross. I am thankful that I have a God, a heavenly Father, who loved me enough to send his own son to die in my place. I am thankful that I have a Savior who was willing to go through no small amount of humiliation to be my scapegoat. I am thankful for the resurrection. I am thankful that the tomb was not the end. I am thankful for my Creator, my Author, my Redeemer, my Lord.

I am thankful for Thanksgiving, for how it reminds me of all that I have to be thankful for. I hope to spend more of my time being thankful and enjoying my blessing. The suffering will come.