Thanksgiving is all about perspective.

That thought flashed across my mind last week as I stood in a Moldova medical building, waiting for a dentist appointment.  Of the four lights in that long corridor, only one light worked, the other three dangling loosely from the ceiling.  The walls were rough plaster coated with who-knows-how-many layers of paint.  An ancient, broken dentist chair stood in the hallway, a perfect playground for kids.

I had always taken a clean medical office for granted, expecting a clean waiting area and current magazines.  I assumed that there would be sterile conditions and lights that actually worked.

I am getting some perspective.

I used to assume that electricity was a constant, normal part of life.  Now I live with electricity that goes up and down, it was even absent for most of Thanksgiving Day!

When cream cheese shows up in a grocery store, we buy it and Nancy makes carrot cake!  We stock up on our yoghurt because it will disappear for a couple weeks.  We savor turkey, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie, because those items are either scarce or packed in via suitcase.

I am thankful for so much, simply because my perspective has changed.  I no longer take for granted indoor plumbing, smooth roads, honest policemen, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, efficient postal service, phone calls from friends, spicy salsa, and free wi-fi.  It wasn’t that those things didn’t bless me before, but now I realize HOW blessed I was to have them.

As Jesus ate dinner at a religious leader’s house, a woman came, poured out her expensive perfume onto Jesus, and wiped his feet with her tears and hair.

When the religious person questioned this action, Jesus simply shared a parable of two men with great debts.  One owed 10 times the debt as the other, yet both had their debts totally erased.  At the end of his story, Jesus simply said, “She was forgiven many, many sins, and so she is very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude is minimal.”

I think this passage is not that we all have different size debts. It is all about perspective.  If my perspective is that my debt is little, I will have little gratitude.  And I will be wrong.  For ALL of us have a great debt.  For all of us have enormous sin.  For all of us are like that prostitute, lost without Christ.

Whether Christ rescued you from the streets or from a nice, religious home, you had enormous debt. If you are the son or daughter of a preacher, you still have enormous debt.  No one owes Christ a tiny amount of gratitude.

Ask God to give you some perspective…and be thankful.

Forever grateful,
Andy Raatz

PS:  May the Lord bless you richly this holiday season.  No matter what situation you are in, I pray that He may fill your heart with much thanks and gratitude.  We are continually humbled by those that support. One friend lives in constant physical pain, yet wants to help the women in the Home of Hope.  When I think of her perspective, I am cut to the core….and grateful.