Do we give thanks for blessings or are we often not even aware of them? 

My friend Bob told me a story today about something we take for granted: our freedom. A friend of Bob’s, who lives in Utah, was having parts of a car manufactured in Poland, and he wanted the workers to understand what the finished product looked like. So he brought four key Polish workers to the U.S. 

In the course of the day, the American had to make a quick stop at the grocery store, and he took the four men inside with him. Soon, he lost them. When he tracked them down, they were in the Kool-Aid section having a vehement discussion. When the American got them calmed down, he found out that each wanted a different flavor of Kool-Aid. So the American shrugged and scooped up a handful of packets and dropped them into his shopping basket. 

The men were astonished: “You mean no one tells you how many you can buy or what flavor? Now we understand what freedom is.”

How quickly we forget that we not only have freedom to choose what we buy, most of us have the means to exercise that freedom. 

“In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5.18, NKJV)

Then you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.” And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 8.17, 18, NKJV)