Thankfulness

It's Thanksgiving evening, and after spending the afternoon enjoying a feast and family, I am still struggling with a few thoughts that have been nagging at me all week.
Am I thankful enough?
Are my kids thankful enough?
Why is it such a struggle to teach contentment?
Why am I thankful for people and the things that they've done, but I don't actually tell them?

I pulled up the local newspaper this morning on the internet and scanned the headlines... "Thanks for Giving: Needs still unmet". Every Thanksgiving season, the Lincoln Journal Star posts a huge lists of "needs" around the community. There were about 25 needs that were yet to be filled. I read about a 15 year old pregnant teen who needed a crib, car seat and diapers. I read about a new mom who had just left her batterer after he threatened to kill her. She had her baby while she was in a shelter and is now ready to move out and is asking for gift certificates to the utility company. I read about 3 siblings who had been in foster care for a year... they each had a specific toy in mind and could use some clothes. I read about many teenage moms and got mad. I read about a few women who have left their abusive partners and became sad. I read about the 60 women plus their children, who are in a residential home and being treated for drug abuse and became judgmental.

So many conflicting emotions...
Why do we insist that teenagers have to keep their babies and then offer no help to let them survive?
How do women muster up the courage to leave their abusive partners when they don't know where they will lay their heads at night?
How do drugs become the answer to so many problems?
How can this be such a huge problem in Lincoln, Ne... and since it is, it must be a huge problem everywhere, and how many people in this country must have a "need"?

As I give thanks to God for providing me with a husband who loves us enough to work himself sick,  I'm also reflecting on what my "needs" are. I know they are nothing compared to many in our city.
I don't have to debate if I'm going to buy groceries or pay our medical bills... I somehow figure out a way to do both.
I don't have to tell my kids that they can't have a new winter coat... I somehow figure out a way to get them what they need.
I don't worry for long about how I'm going to pay for Eliot's basketball gear... I know that something will come up and it'll work out.

On this day of giving thanks, I'm thankful that I don't have to wonder where we will sleep tonight, or if my car will start in the morning, or if I will have food to give the kids breakfast.

I'm thankful that if I'm cold, I can turn the heat up.

I'm thankful that I can go to the grocery store on any given day of the week and buy pretty much whatever I want to feed my family.

I'm thankful that we can provide a backpack full of food for a child to take home on the weekend and share with his family.

I'm thankful that I can put $10 into a free-will offering at a pie social and that it will turn into a huge reason that other people can go to another country and serve people that need to be loved.

I'm thankful that I can have a fancy phone that does a whole bunch of stuff that I don't need and two really important things that I want- calling and texting.

I'm thankful that I can pick up my fancy phone and call one of the numbers in the local paper and make one of those teen moms days just a little better.