Who's thankful for you?

I am a big Thanksgiving fan. I like the fact that it's one of the few holidays left that doesn't focus entirely on us. It's a time when we get together with family and friends and reflect on all the things we are thankful for. If you're on facebook, over the past week, it was filled with people posting on all the things they are thankful for. I really like that; it's always good (and healthy) for us to look around and realize how blessed we are (more about that in my next post).

As I was thinking about all the people I am thankful for, I began to wonder, "Who is thankful for me?" When people make their lists of everyone they are thankful for, how many lists would I be on? Now, before you accuse me of being some kind of egomaniac and turning giving thanks into some kind of self-centered feel-good exercise, I just can't help but wonder how much better my world would be if I lived my life in a way that made people thankful for me.

My youngest son and a classmate of his are sponsoring a child, Abdalla Omar, in Kenya through Compassion. I'm pretty sure that if you ask Abdalla to make a list of everyone he's thankful for, my son would be on his list and that's a good thing. A friend of mine helped start an organization to help the people of Kenya who are HIV+ get physical, emotional, and spiritual help while at the same time teaching them life skills to help them become self-sufficient. Thus far they have impacted the lives of hundreds of Kenyans. I bet my friend would be on their list of people they are thankful for and that's a good thing. I have another friend who is helping build an orphanage for special needs kids in China. I bet he'd be on their list and that's a good thing.

Here's my point. I think it's great to make a list of all the people and things we are thankful for. But how about making another list of all the people that are thankful for you? And, what if we made the conscientious decision to be intentional about making that list longer? How much better would the lives of those around us be? And, how much better would the world ultimately be?

I think that would be a very good thing.