Over the last few days, I have seen numerous folks posting or tweeting photos and comments about what they are thankful for.
by Brent Maze
I’ll admit, I don’t always take the time to read them. Maybe I think they’re doing it for selfish reasons to make them look good. However, I think it’s because it causes me to look at myself and realize just how ungrateful I have been.
Over this past year, it seems like my life has gotten too “busy” to take time and reflect on just what I have. I tend to think about things I don’t have. Maybe our profit margin isn’t what it should be. Maybe I’m worried that I haven’t done enough or I haven’t taken care of things that I should have done days, weeks or even months ago. Or maybe, we all get discouraged because things didn’t go exactly the way we wanted them to go, just see 2020.
When I look back from this point, I realize that things haven’t been all that bad. Sure we all have regrets of things we did or didn’t do, but it’s those moments that have created the tapestry of our lives.
Without those learning experiences, we wouldn’t be the people that we are today. Those are the things that go wrong, but God can turn it around for good in our lives.
As I mention tapestry, it reminds me of the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode of the same name where Capt. Jean-Luc Picard gets a chance to see what his life was like if he had made different choices and didn’t take risks. When he was young, he took risks and got in a fight where he was stabbed through the heart. That caused him to live the rest of his life with a futuristic heart implant.
The heart implant ruptured, and he appeared to die on the operating table.
In the alternate reality, he didn’t get in the fight, but he lived a dull, meaningless life where he was a junior-grade lieutenant who never took risks or stood out from the crowd.
He decided that he’d rather die the man that he was than live a meaningless life. Thus, when he tried to pull on a string of the tapestry, his whole life became unraveled.
I know there are things I wish I could have done differently, but I also realize that I wouldn’t be here now.
And that’s what I’m thankful for — where I am right now. I’m thankful for my family, my friends, my church family here and everywhere I’ve been, my job and so much more.
I’m not what I ought to be but better than I used to be. The Lord has been good to me, better than I deserve.
Contact Brent at bmaze@-newtoncountyappeal.com.
