Yeah, Yeah, Yeah...I'm Thankful. OK?!

It's Thanksgiving.  I'm thankful. Let's eat.  Football game'll be on soon.

I'm sitting here overstuffed as the furniture, wondering why - if I'm thankful - I am in such a dour mood.  I'm not mad.  Not angry.  Just not all that euphoric.  Not that happy and...uh...thankful.

I say I'm thankful.  And I suppose, at a certain level, I am.  I have the necessities of life - food, water, shelter, and the Elixir of Knowledge, (that's coffee for any 1st-time visitors to the Garage).

But I guess I'm frustrated a bit because that's all stuff I OUGHT to get.  It's what is OWED me.  I am ENTITLED to it.  You know, 'Merica.  Life lived for me, liberty without consequences, and the pursuit of calories.

I'm looking out the window on this Thanksgiving afternoon.  Flash-mob, quarter-sized flakes fall past the window.  A chunk of Pastor's sermon drifts by with the bits of white.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied."

Satisfied.  Maybe that's the key to thankfulness.  Have such a lack of something that I'm euphoric to get it. 

They say that when you're thirsty, as in medicinal need of water, that simple water can taste like the Divine Ambrosia of the Angels...or something really, really good.

When you're really, really cold from a single-digit, snowy day in the woods, a 60 degree house can feel like a Tahitian summer beach.

Huh.

A quick pull of the Elixir of Knowledge connects the dots. 

Huh.

The awareness of my level of need determines the level of my thankfulness.  I think the Book put it another way.

"He who is forgiven much, loves much.".

Yeah.

When I realize that I had nothing until He gave me everything...I think that's when thankfulness begins.   Honest-to-goodness joyful thankfulness.  When I realize that I had nothing and He's given it all to me because He wanted to....wow...

And it doesn't hurt to have a 20lb turkey....and some punkin pie...and the Elixir of Knowledge.

But that's just gravy on the stuffing.  A nice addition to the bedrock truth of Grace.

Okay........now, I'm thankful....