I am thankful that I can be thankful, for if thankfulness did not exist my heart would be irretrievably imprisoned by the crazed twins of acquisition and possession, and my soul would exist as a forever slave to greed.

We recklessly attempt to disguise our ‘greed’ by dressing it in the garb of other nobler ideals such as ‘rights’ and ‘privileges.’ Yet, if we dare dress ‘greed’ in an authentic sense of thankfulness, greed will suffocate within the folds of that very clothing.

I suppose that one of my greatest problem lays in the fact that I have assumed a blessing to be something that is mine for the taking, verses being something that by sheer exposure to it takes me.

To savor the simple privilege that every day I have a sunrise to bathe in, a storehouse of opportunities to romp through, the thick wrap of relationships to keep me warm, a God who meticulously tends to every detail round about me, and it all costs me not a dime. What madness would keep me from being eternally thankful for all that?

Astonishingly, there is in the smallness of me sufficient space for God to insert the fullness of Himself. And because that reality is massive beyond all comprehension, the best I can do is be thankful beyond all measure so that God can use me beyond all restriction.

In my desperation, I have finally discovered that the only way that I can begin to fill the gaping hole within me is to be thankful for what’s there, and not angry for what’s not.

Being thankful is cherishing the fact that I have the privilege of ‘having’ in a world where the majority of my fellow human beings know nothing other than the struggle of surviving.

It starts with one thing. And when I find that ‘one thing’ that I can be thankful for, others immediately rush to the forefront of my mind. And in but a few moments I am so inundated by all that I have to be thankful for that any sense that my life is impoverished itself becomes impoverished.

Greed are the handcuffs and gratitude is the key. Sadly, sometimes we prefer wearing the cuffs to finding the keys.