What Are You Thankful For?

2 Kings 4:2 “…Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

Our family was blessed to hear a sermon on this scripture on Sunday. The widow in this story is distraught over the prospect of her sons being taken into slavery as payment for debts her late husband left unsettled. She seeks help from a prophet, one of her husband’s colleagues, when he asks her the profound question. Because she has no money, she responds that she “has nothing here at all, except a little oil.” With guidance from the prophet, she comes to see that, indeed, she has plenty to meet her needs in this situation. He advises her to gather all of the empty jars she can from her neighbors. He instructs her to then fill each jar with the “little oil” she has, and the oil continues to flow far beyond her expectations, ceasing only after the last jar is filled. When she returns to the prophet to share what has happened, he instructs her to go and sell the oil so she can repay her debts with the proceeds.

It reminded me of how often we look beyond what we already have to solve our problems or to bring us happiness. We pine for money, gadgets, or baubles when we have so much to be thankful for right under our noses. How often do we or our children say, “I have nothing to wear!” or “There’s nothing to do!," or my favorite, “If only I had…” After at least a decade of eagerly racing to answer the merchant’s tantalizing query, “What’s in your wallet?”, our nation is feeling the consequences.

Gather your family together to take a realistic look at what you have and what you really need. Use what you need wisely and share the excess with others who are less fortunate. Redirect your family’s energies toward a sure-fire investment – relationships. As you welcome family and friends for the Thanksgiving holiday, share with your children the value of building relationships that are loving, lasting, and meaningful. Work to repair and rebuild relationships that have suffered over the years. Fun family activities for the holiday include:

• Having everyone name something for which they are thankful during the meal.
• Allowing younger children to tape interviews with their elders to reinforce relationships across the generations and preserve family history.
• Creating scrapbook pages together and posting pictures from the holiday celebration.
• Generating interesting discussions using random topics pulled from a jar. (Table Topics cards are also fun; visit www.tabletopics.com.)

We certainly need some “things” in our lives to meet our basic needs for protection, comfort, and enjoyment. Let us not so overwhelm ourselves with tangible possessions that we can no longer see all that we have and truly give thanks for it.

--Carol--

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