Choose gratitude for empty hands

If you fill your hands full of things and stuff, how are you going to hold on to what God has for you?

Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct. (Galatians 6:4-5)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I’m grateful for you, and I truly hope you know it.

Do you ever think about the things you DON’T have? Come on now. Let’s be honest here. We all do this. It’s really easy to look at people around us and want what they have.

Maybe it’s their skills. Maybe it’s their possessions. Maybe it’s their relationships or their personality. Whatever it is that they have, we want it. Because we have the idea that life from someone else’s shoes is so much better and easier than our own.

News Flash: It’s not.

Nobody has an easy life. Everyone struggles with something. Even the person you admire most has to battle something every day. The wealthiest person you can think of has to fight for something. Nobody is without trauma or hurt or grief or brokenness of some sort.

Welcome to life in a broken world. Nothing is as nice as it seems from the outside.

So in the moments when you catch yourself wishing you had MORE or LESS or WHAT THEY HAVE, just stop. Stop it. And then turn your eyes to your own life and look for the things you have that are good. Because everyone has something to be thankful for.

If you have nothing but another free breath of air that a machine didn’t have to help you with, you are still blessed.

If you fill your hands full of things and stuff, how are you going to hold on to what God has for you? Did you ever think of it that way? You can live your life grasping for the next trend or the hottest fashion or the best cars or the biggest houses. Or you can come at life with open hands.

Maybe it’s time to choose to be thankful for empty hands. That way, when God wants to give you something specifically designed for you, your hands will be ready to receive it.

Questions for Reflection:

• How does longing for things that other people have hurt you?

• What’s the most unusual thing in your life that you’re thankful for today?

• What is something you DON’T have that you’re thankful for?

Memory Verse: