Did you watch Little House on the Prairie? Did you read the books? Do you remember in The Long Winter how the girls had to stay under the covers all day just to stay warm (alive) in that harsh winter? I was very thankful for my goose down and chenille this morning — and equally thankful for the thermostat in my control.
As tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I easily go down the litany of things I am thankful for – health, home, family, friends, work — all the big ones. I have read the books, (tried to) keep the thanks journal, heard the sermons. I understand that lack of gratitude is in cahoots with entitlement. I also have a pretty good grasp on how little, it any I “deserve,” from blessing to salvation. So I should be thankful. Scripture in I Thessalonians tells me to give thanks in all circumstances. I get it. But I am not.
I cannot keep secrets from God; He knows. How many times have I said those words over the years? How much comfort they have given me when I could find no other words! But truth is, He knows also those areas where thanks is absent, surrounded in the assumption that I should have had it differently. I have sat, and a little uncomfortably, on this truth since I realized Thanksgiving was nearly here; but it was the first thing I said to myself, that which I was not thankful for, long before that which I was.
Again and again, though, since God is the faithful one, He shows me this and a way to stay malleable. I am, have been, like the inconsolable child. I did not get my way. But I have not seen a child remain that way indefinitely under the love of a parent. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3-4 NIV) Kids learn to trust their loving parents and rest in that, not needing to understand. They have a humble childlike faith — and to those Jesus commends.
“It can’t beat us!” Pa said.
“Can’t it, Pa?” Laura asked stupidly.
“No,” said Pa. “It’s got to quit sometime and we don’t. It can’t lick us. We won’t give up.”
Then Laura felt a warmth inside her. It was very small but it was strong. It was steady, like a tiny light in the dark, and it burned very low but no winds could make it flicker because it would not give up.”
― Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Long Winter
Thank you, Jesus, for your light in the dark parts of my soul, where you take a simple faith and grow it into full trust in You. Amen!
hearingnseeing 
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