Grateful

It's the day after Thanksgiving, and we didn't have one of those moments yesterday where we all sat around and asked each other, "So, what are you grateful for?"

If we had, I would mostly have the same answers: my family, my friends, my health, a warm home, a working car, the genius of people who write books, the libraries and bookstores where we can get those books...you know, the usual. Just because those are "the usual" for me doesn't mean I'm not truly grateful. I am. I don't wake up in the morning, whatever challenges the coming day will pose, without being overwhelmed by gratitude at everything and everyone that has blessed my life.

But I want to express my gratitude for something a little more specific today. I am grateful to have been born a Christian, and I'm grateful to have been born in the United States.

The reason I'm so aware of those blessings today is that I've been reading a book called Princess: The True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia, by Jean Sasson. I have been made newly aware of things I knew before, but never in such a vivid and personal way.

So, in honor of Princess Sultana, her daughters, and all her Middle Eastern sisters, daughters of God who don't have the freedoms I have, I'd like to offer a few more things I'm grateful for.

• I’m grateful that I can go to church. Not only is Christianity legal in this country, but women are allowed to walk into places of worship. In some parts of the world, women are not allowed to go into the buildings of their own faith.

• I’m grateful that I don’t have to cover my face. I can look at the unique beauty of other people’s faces, meet their eyes, take in their expressions.

• I’m grateful that I can vote.

• I’m grateful that I can serve my country and my God as I see fit to do, using as many of my gifts as I can. And if that puts me in a position of authority over men, then it does.

• I am grateful that I chose to marry and have children, and wasn’t forced to do it.

• I’m grateful for my education, and for parents who encouraged me to read and learn.

• I’m grateful that my body is whole and has never been mutilated at the hands of others.

• I’m grateful for a husband who loves me, respects me, and doesn’t worry about gender roles very much, a husband who depends on me as much as I depend on him. I’m grateful that I got to choose him myself (though my mother did have some input into that).

• I’m grateful for my husband, but if (God forbid) something happened to him, I’m really grateful that my children and I wouldn’t have to move back in with my dad. Sorry, Daddy, you know I love you, but…

• I’m grateful that domestic abuse is illegal in my country and my religion.

• I’m grateful that my 13-year-old daughter’s biggest concern is raising her science grade and getting her crush to like her. She’s not planning a wedding, and she’ll never be anyone’s third wife.

• I’m grateful that polygamy is illegal in my country and my religion.

• I’m grateful that I can wear jeans.

• I am grateful that I can drive and am allowed to drive.

• I’m grateful that my daughters and my son are equally loved and cherished by all of our family and by our religion.

• I’m grateful for a life that’s been blessed, but just a little bit hard. When my parents told me, “It builds character,” they weren’t kidding. In our culture, you can get handed a lot, but if you don’t put in the work, you won’t succeed. Struggle builds character, and much as I resist it, I’m grateful for it.

• I’m grateful that my husband and I decide together what’s best for our kids. Nobody’s word is law in our house or our country… parents decide together.

• I’m grateful that I’ve never been so poor that I couldn’t protest injustice or mistreatment. I’m becoming more aware that I have to speak up for those who are afraid of losing what little they have by speaking out.

• I’m grateful to the men and women of my country and my religion who have fought to make sure that we have the rights, freedoms and dignity that we have.

• I’m grateful for a country and a religion that hold men and women to the same standards of virtue and citizenship.

• I’m grateful for an incarnational religion that says that bodies are wonderful, miraculous things that should be cherished and respected.

• I’m grateful that I worship a God who would have done everything he did if I had been the only person ever to live. There are no second class citizens in heaven… at least the way my religion understands it.

That’s a long list, and it only begins to cover everything we have to be grateful for. Think about it, and give thanks. And pray for the people who can’t say any of the above.