Finding Perspective at Thanksgiving
The other night I was watching a video on World War II, specifically on the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union and the siege of Leningrad. The devastation the poor people of Leningrad experienced is unimaginable. At one point people survived on a tiny ration of one quarter of a pound of bread per day-bread made from sawdust. In the two months of January and February 1942, 200,000 people died of cold and starvation. Anywhere from 641,000 to 800,000 people died during the siege.
The suffering behind the German lines was even worse as the soldiers wantonly executed civilians in staggering numbers. Approximately 20 million Soviet citizens died during the war. Of six million Soviet soldiers captured, only two million survived. The documentary gave me a new perspective, a realization that although western nations suffered during World War II, our suffering paled in comparison to that experienced by the Soviet Union. Of course, the communist system unleashed horrible suffering upon its own people in which millions of people died and countless others were thrown into the Gulags.
As I watched the video, I also thought about the current economic downturn in our two countries. Without minimizing the pain someone experiences with the loss of a job or the loss of a home, we are so far away from experiencing what people experienced in the war. We are so far away from experiencing what most people in the world experience as they go to bed hungry, without proper shelter and without medical care. Our downturn may result in loss of jobs and income but the worldwide downturn will result in loss of life. From our limited perspective, our problems may seem huge but from a broader historical or world perspective, they are very small indeed.
Thanksgiving has a way of helping us gain perspective. As citizens, it is a time to think about what we have and to thank God for the many ways that He has blessed our two countries (Canada celebrates Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October). We should certainly have the perspective that God has blessed our two countries, in spite of all their faults, with an unparalleled prosperity, freedom, and security. It should help us to be thankful when we consider what other parts of the world have experienced. We have many reasons to be thankful!
Christians have another perspective to consider-an eternal one. As Jewish believers were experiencing increased persecution and many were tempted to fall back into Judaism, the writer of Hebrews encouraged them to consider their circumstances from an eternal perspective in Hebrews 12:26-29.
Recent events are both a painful and inspiring reminder that we have something, God’s kingdom, which we cannot lose. It is not an inflated commodity, nor is it a fluctuating mutual fund, nor is it a company in need of a bailout. It is an eternal kingdom that “cannot be shaken” in which every investment we make into it lasts. Our proper response is gratitude.
Perhaps the current circumstances will bring added “thanksgiving” as we consider all that never can be lost because it is “reserved in heaven” for us (1 Peter 1:4).
I am so thankful this Thanksgiving that we are bringing news of God’s unshakeable kingdom to people across North America who otherwise might never hear about the King of the kingdom. We are, in effect, “investment counselors” urging Christians and non-Christians alike to make the wisest of investments.
