In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
– 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Not an easy thing to do. Like for my cousin who’s little newborn is in the hospital with tubes connected to her. Nor is it easy for my friend who just took their two-year old to the same hospital that my cousins baby is at yesterday and they still don’t know what is wrong with their little girl. Not easy for either of these sets of parents whose babies carry the same name.
It wasn’t easy for these same two sets of parents to give thanks 2 years ago when my cousins 1st born and my friends little girl, who is in the hospital again, were sharing a room together at St. Lukes downtown. Both are in the same hospital again comforting each other, and with their child’s life hanging in the balance, they give thanks.
In these situations, which lightly compare to those of many people across this globe who have faced worse scenarios, they give thanks.
In my life, on my turf and in my world where God has blessed me beyond imagination, for me to say thanks seems petty compared to these situations. But nonetheless I give thanks for my salvation, my wife, my loving and Godly parents, my brother and sisters, my Church, my friends (near and far), my shelter, my transportation, my security. And I also thank God for his constant love for me that is in relentless pursuit of me.
I look at my cousin and my friends situations and I give thanks with them for God’s answer and healing in their little one’s bodies, knowing that God is more than able to do far more than we can think or imagine.