What if you woke up tomorrow and all you had was what you thanked God for today?

I have to admit that when I first read that question it made me feel quite uncomfortable. I had to stop and ask myself if I have given Him even a small portion of praise and thanksgiving for all that I have received and I realized that I have all too often fallen short in giving him thanks. I realized that far too often if I answered the question honestly, I would wake up tomorrow with very little indeed.

Everything that I have, everything that I am, all that I will ever be are gifts from God, freely given, no strings attached. All too often I simply take it for granted without any consideration for or acknowledgement to the one who has given it all to me. So it makes me pause and really consider the question.

How often do we focus on all that has gone wrong with our day, the injustices we have incurred, the injuries we have sustained, the problems that we have had to face. We complain and heap pity on ourselves for having lived through such a thoroughly rotten day and we look up to heaven and cry “Why me God? What did I do to deserve all this?”

If we are honest with ourselves I would suspect that most of us can recall how, on more than one occasion, we have asked God “Why me?” But I wonder how many of us can recall thanking Him for all of the good things that have come our way, the wonderful gifts we have received from Him. I suspect that should we tally the “why me’s” and the “thank you’s” the former would far outweigh the latter by a very wide margin.

There is a scene from the movie Bruce Almighty where Bruce (who has been given all the powers of God) is sitting in front of his computer receiving messages from all humanity and he is quickly overwhelmed with all of the whining and begging—all the “why me’s”. If only he could have received a simple “thank you.”

So for tomorrow and all of the tomorrows yet to come, let us pause and remember to thank God for the gifts we received today. I am sure he would appreciate the gratitude. And who knows, you might wake up tomorrow with more than you had today!