Yesterday’s thanksgiving sentiment that this is the year to appreciate what you have reminded me of something I heard on Prairie Home Companion over 35 years ago. Garrison Keillor was in the middle of the long weekly story about what was going on in his hometown, Lake Woebegone. A mother was in conversation with her adult, newly married son, who was having marital adjustment issues. He asked his mother how she and his dad made it all these years, and his mother replied, “Even when it was hard, we knew it was what we wanted.” The son replied, “Well, some people are lucky; they know what they want.” Later, the mother reflected on the exchange and concluded what she said wasn’t quite right. Then Garrison reported what she meant to say:

Some people are lucky, not to get what they want, but to get what they have. Which, after they’ve had it, they might be lucky enough to realize it’s what they would have wanted had they known about it!” -Garrison Keillor

Meditate on that! It’s profound – I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of that quote over the years.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8.28, NKJV)