Did you ever find yourself praying for something and then forgetting to say thank you when you got what you prayed for?  Embarrassing, isn’t it?   Or even if you didn’t pray, perhaps you were somehow spared something that could have happened.  I think it’s important to give thanks in all these circumstances.

For instance, yesterday I was in Denver’s beautiful airport when a tornado warning was heard over the intercom.  I was one of thousands of waiting passengers, airport personnel, and loved-ones-waiting-arrivals who scurried into tornado shelters built within the airport.  After about forty minutes, we were given the all-clear.  It wasn’t until today that I saw the photos of the tornado that was forming over one of the airport runways.  I did say a prayer of thanks yesterday, but looking at those photos, I realized how blessed we all were.  It could have gone so differently.  Thank you, thank you, God, for sparing us disaster.

The east coast has been faced with a number of huge storms and hurricanes in the last year, many of which had been predicted to be much worse than they turned out to be.  When the hurricane didn’t venture as far west as they’d expected or when it didn’t destroy your home or your town, did you remember to give thanks?  It could have been so much worse.

Last week they had predicted a really bad heat wave in Colorado that was to last several days.  The heat broke after only a couple days, not only making living and breathing a lot easier, but also helping efforts to fight the huge wildfires.  Did you notice?  Did you give thanks?

If your home was one of the lucky ones to be spared flood or fire, did you remember to give thanks?

If you flew a couple thousand miles in a jet and it landed safely, were you grateful?  Did you remember to give thanks?

If you were going on a long road trip and you prayed for a safe journey, did you remember to express gratitude when the journey was safely completed?

If you were praying for someone who was in an operation and that person made it through surgery and recovered well, did you remember to say thank you?  If someone was ill and you prayed for them and they recovered, did you express gratitude?

The world didn’t end in the year 2000 or the year 2012.  Life continues.  Are you grateful that the world is still spinning and we are all still given the privilege of living upon it?

Our prayers are answered all the time.  Miracles happen all the time. And all too often we are oblivious.  We forget how blessed we are.  Let’s try our very best to not only be thankful for what we have, but for what did not happen.  We are alive.  We are safe.

Thank God.

Continued blessings to each and every one of you!