Thank the Lord because he is good. His love continues forever. [Psalm 107:1 (NCV)]

“I need more chairs and a larger table … I have all this silver to polish … I wish I had a double oven.” I’ve been busy this week getting ready to celebrate a day of thanks and yet I’m complaining. I have a sneaky suspicion that I ‘m not the only one. My grumbling stopped when I remembered a school we visited in Tanzania. The cooks had neither table nor chairs; they squatted and prepped the vegetables on a plastic tarp laid on the dirt floor. They couldn’t run out to the grocery for provisions; the food they prepared was brought to school by the children from their family gardens. They had no ovens; in fact, they had no stoves. Five open fires burned on the ground; pots of vegetable stew lay on the coals. Yet, the headmistress was filled with pride at this new addition to their school and thankful for the blessing of this facility.

This morning I arranged flowers for a festive table, and gave serious thought as to which serving platter to use for the turkey, which bowls to use for the yams and mashed potatoes, and which plates to save for the pie and cookies. In the afternoon, I joined others in my church family and helped make and pack 1,200 Thanksgiving lunches for migrant workers. We filled paper lunch bags with a turkey sandwich, a packet of mayo, an apple, a bag of chips and a mini candy bar. There won’t be fresh flowers, linen napkins, or silver platters on their tables but they will be immensely thankful for what they have.

Lord, help me cease my many foolish complaints. May I be thankful for every blessing in my life. Show me how to share my bounty with those less fortunate.

A roast fowl is to the sight of a satiated man
Less valuable than a blade of grass on the table;
And to him who has no means nor power
A burnt turnip is a roasted fowl. [Gulistan of Sa’di]

I had no shoes and complained, until I met a man who had no feet.[Indian proverb]