How Thankful Are We?

        Last year in a tiny Haitian village, I sat on a low rock wall and talked to one of the men who lived there.  He spoke a little English, and I spoke a little French, and we used a little notebook and pencil to draw pictures to help us communicate.  I learned a few things about his life.  His name was Beltoni, and when it was possible, he worked cutting sugar cane across the border in the Dominican Republic.  Beltoni had been working in the cane fields since he was a small child.  He was hungry, and I shared some food with him.  I learned that he was almost always hungry, and had rarely known what it felt like to feel full.

        He was curious about what we were doing in his village; he could not understand what we wanted, because they had nothing.  I tried to explain that we were there to share our faith in Jesus Christ, and he was interested, but still suspicious.  Over the course of more than an hour, he told me how he wanted a better life, and how he wanted to get an education.  I became aware of the physical discomfort that is the reality of Beltoni's life.  After a while, sitting on a rock wall gets uncomfortable.  I looked around for a more comfortable place to sit, and there were none.  I saw two little girls sleeping on a dirty blanket on the ground.  Long thorns grew almost everywhere, and human and animal waste littered the ground.  The homes were made of sticks and mud, with thorn barriers around the foundation to keep animals out.

        Beltoni was unsure who his father was.  He knew who his mother had been, although she had died several years ago.  He had few options; his day would be spent trying to get enough to eat.  In spite of all these obstacles, Beltoni had learned some English, and dreamed of having a real job some day.

        We have so much to be thankful for.  We have options in our lives; we have enough to eat; in fact, we are rarely really hungry.  We have comfortable chairs, and clean beds, and homes that are warm in the winter, and cool in the summer.  We have the chance to get a free education through high school, and if we are willing to work, we can have a job.  If we are willing to work hard, study hard, and be disciplined in our living, the sky is the limit.

        Beltoni is not angry or resentful about his life; it is the only reality he has known.  He is grateful for the little that he has.  He has lived with deprivation and a struggle to survive, and that is what he accepts.

        How blessed we have been.  In spite of all our material blessings, we are often ungrateful.  We complain that the bed is too hard, or the food is too bland.  We grumble that television is not entertaining enough, and we complain that we have to get up and go to work.  Our young people take so much for granted, and often seem not to appreciate the sacrifices that have been made by their elders.

        In Haiti, we get a dose of reality.  We can see and experience what life is like when all those things we take for granted are gone.  Food, shelter, safety....none are guaranteed.  Each becomes greatly appreciated.  I loved the food we ate on those mission trips, because I realized how precious it was.  I loved having a bed to sleep on, regardless of how uncomfortable.  I appreciated having some shelter from the rain and the mosquitoes.  I learned to be thankful in a new way.

        If we have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we enjoy something even more precious than material comfort.  We also have something which the unbeliever cannot comprehend, and cannot appreciate.  The Holy Spirit nurtures, comforts and guides us through our lives with a gentle friendship the world cannot comprehend.  He makes the unbearable, bearable.  He creates joy in the middle of the worst situation, and gives the "peace that passes understanding."

        For all that we have materially, we are truly thankful, but for the relationship with our Lord, we are humbly, undeservingly, deeply blessed.  It is our greatest treasure.