I have a friend and I love to watch her eat. Every bite is a bit of joy. If I were to bring her a couple of cherry tomatoes from my patio tomato plants, she’d look them over. “Oh my,” she’d say, “aren’t those beautiful.” And she’d smell them and pick one up with her long piano fingers and pop it in her mouth. Then she’d chew it in slow motion. “So sweet. Absolutely lovely.”
When we go on hikes, she stops at every wildflower, remembering what it is called and remarking on its color. Everything takes longer and sometimes, though I try not to show it, I grow impatient. But mostly I find her delight in the simple gifts to be contagious.
She had very little when she was a child and she is thankful for everything. I put those two phrases in one sentence because I believe they are related. Having in abundance can make contentment hard to come by. When much is given, much may be expected, or even, perhaps, demanded. But those who have little know everything is a gift.
Sometimes when I put my Thankful Thursday posts together, I am embarrassed that there is so much ordinary and so little extraordinary. I worry that it might be boring. Not to me, because when I write, for instance, “I’m thankful for fresh cabbage from the garden,” I really am thankful for my cabbage. After all, I planted the seedlings and watched them grow. I saw the heads form and become more compact through the weeks. I’ve held that perfect head of garden cabbage in my hands; I smelled it; I know it’s a beautiful thing. But the reader? Why would anyone else care about my cabbage?
But I’ve learned from my friend to be thankful for simple things. Her delight is contagious; maybe mine will be, too. I also hope that I am learning, like Paul, that
we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content (1 Timothy 6:7-8 ESV).
What is contentment but settled thanksgiving for the gifts God has given us? Doesn’t being content with food and clothing mean being so thankful to our heavenly Father for providing them that we do not yearn—at least too much—for more?
So yes, I’m thankful for the cabbage in my garden and the cabbage in my fridge. God provided them to sustain me and to give me joy.
And maybe he gave them to me to teach me a few things about himself. Don’t my cabbages demonstrate that there is design in the rhythm of the created order? The summer rain and summer sun do their work and I have tasty cabbages that display in their own small way the purposeful nature of God who keeps things rolling along. What’s more, they assure me that this God who accomplishes what he decides to do takes care of his creatures, including me.
A simple gift is never just a simple gift. I’m thankful for that, too.
Throughout this year I’m planning to post a few thoughts of thanksgiving each Thursday along with Kim at the Upward Call and others.