For Those Received and Those Not
As Thanksgiving Day approaches once again, we as a nation set aside time to be thankful. But we shouldn’t be thankful in a vacuum.
In establishing this national holiday through his Thanksgiving Proclamation on October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln declared that our thanks is due “to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens”.
While it’s common to be thankful for all the blessings we’ve received, it’s also a good practice to be thankful for those things which we did not receive. If we reflect on it deeply enough, sometimes we realize that the lack of receiving turned out to be the blessing.
What do I mean by this? The dating relationship that didn’t work out . . . and we met someone better suited for us. The job that we didn’t get . . . which kept us available for the one that truly matched our interests. The house purchase contract that fell through . . . and interest rates dropped, allowing us to get “more house” for the same budget.
