Even in midst of difficulties, everyone should pause and give thanks

  • Published
  • By Chaplain (Capt.) Brian Honett
  • 88th Air Base Wing chapel
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  In tumultuous times, giving thanks can be hard. We live in a world that is full of challenges and chaos. It is so easy to get caught up in the negative and difficult things of life. By the time the Thanksgiving holiday has rolled around we may have had   almost 11 months of heartache and disappointment since our New Year's resolutions; things that have not always gone as we planned.

Rather than make Thanksgiving irrelevant, these challenges and disappointments make it all the more relevant. The pilgrims that founded this country faced innumerable challenges during their   first months and years here -- disease, death, crop failure and harsh weather, yet they found it important to give thanks. They were thankful for all that God had provided: a country where they could worship as they desired, food to eat, a community around them and that He had delivered them even in the midst of difficult circumstances.  

While we stand hundreds of years removed from the challenges of the pilgrims, we still face our own set of challenges each and every day. It is important even in the midst of difficulty for us to pause and give thanks. Each of us has things to be thankful for and Thanksgiving gives us the opportunity to pause and remember what we have and what has   been given to us. It provides the opportunity to remind each other of the good things in life we have to be grateful for, whether they be large or small.

While we all come to this holiday from different backgrounds, some of us with much to celebrate and give thanks for, and others of us feel as though there is little to be thankful for each of us can find something to give thanks for. Just as the pilgrims each of us can be thankful that we woke up this morning, that the sun has risen and we've been given a new day.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote, "Your mercies are new every morning." No matter our circumstances each of us can be glad that a new morning has broken with fresh opportunities.