Not once during this week did I give thanks to God for modern communications. Like most Americans, I use my cell phone regularly for calls, text messages, and various apps that need access to some signal. We have an internet connection at our home that allows several pieces of equipment to function as designed. As communications technology has improved, it has become worked into more and more aspects of our daily lives, so much so that some people’s lives depend upon devices that routinely send information back and forth throughout the internet. We are living in the information age, but not once this week did I give thanks for being able to transmit and receive information. I simply took it for granted.
When I woke up this morning, the only cell phone tower that services our island wasn’t putting out a signal. Additionally, there was a large-scale problem with our internet provider that knocked out all internet service to our island. Unable to communicate with anyone who wasn’t in my home, the importance of modern communications was quickly made very apparent. As both the wireless signal and internet connection were restored after a few hours, I was very grateful indeed and gave thanks to God.
This week is historically the busiest week of the year for our island community, and even in this year of pandemic, it appears that every room has been booked and every golf cart has been rented. Many of the small businesses that dot our island are counting on a strong week of sales, to make up for the lost months earlier this year when our nation shut down. They have experienced recently the loss of business, and now the customers have returned. I pray that they are grateful, and give thanks to God.
This Saturday, July 4th, we celebrate the day that we declared our independence from Great Britain, establishing a new nation with the fundamental premise that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our Constitution would declare an intent to create “a more perfect Union”. There have been times when those foundational concepts were lacking over broad sections of our nation, and lives were lost in an effort to restore these freedoms to all Americans. There have been significant movements recently to point out how much farther we have to go as a nation to secure justice. We are definitely not a perfect Union, but we are continuing to walk in pursuit of a more perfect Union. With the many struggles that we have endured as a nation, we should not take our freedoms for granted. I pray that we are grateful, and that we give thanks to God.
We are so thoroughly blessed that it is often difficult to comprehend those blessings until they are gone. Communications networks can fail, our economies can fail, and even our nation can fail. The vast majority of people to have ever lived on this planet couldn’t even dream of life as good as we have it now, and if they had a glimpse of it, they would likely give thanks to God. Let us therefore take some time this week, perhaps even as part of your July 4th celebration, to express your gratitude for your blessings while you still have them, for it would be a shame to only recognize their value once they are gone.
Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron