Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
    • Planned Giving
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions and Permissions
Support independent, faith-based journalism. Donate
Search Search this site

So very, kind of pretty much, thankful

OpinionMichael Ruffin  |  November 27, 2014

By Michael Ruffin

On the one hand, I have an easy time giving thanks.

On the other hand, I have a difficult time giving thanks.

Let me try to explain.

Giving thanks comes easy to me because I have so very much for which to be thankful.

I am thankful for my family. My good wife and I have been married now for going on 37 years; I am thankful for the love, grace, commitment, tenacity, and joy that have characterized our relationship so that it has been fulfilling as well as enduring. Our two children are grown, educated, employed, out of our house, and happily married. I am so thankful.

I am thankful for my career. I sensed God calling me to the ministry over four decades ago and I have been privileged to pursue and to live out that calling ever since. While my ministry has taken various forms and my career has careened down some interesting paths, I have had and still have a career that intrigues and challenges me and hopefully does some good in the lives of some folks. I am so thankful.

I am thankful for my growing wholeness. I can honestly testify that at this point, after almost six decades of living, I am relatively sound in my spirit. Given the struggle that it has always been for me to have a sense of peace, I am most grateful to be at the place I am. I do not think that I am as whole and sound as I will become; I also know that things will happen that will challenge even the level of wholeness and soundness at which I think I have arrived. Life is, after all, a journey. Still, because of the grace shown to me by the Lord in allowing me to learn some ways to approach proactively the development of our relationship, I am spiritually healthier than I have ever been. I am so thankful.

Yes, I am truly thankful. And yet I have difficulty expressing whole-hearted thanks. Why is that?

I think — I hope — it’s because of my love for other people, a love that has grown as my sense of being loved by God and as my love for God have grown.

So while I am thankful for my family I am also mindful of people who have no family, whose families are busted and broken, and whose families are characterized by manipulation and by abuse.

So while I am thankful for my career, I am also mindful of those who are unemployed, who are underemployed, who are in unsatisfying careers, or who find no meaning in their work other than the making of money.

So while I am thankful for my increased and increasing wholeness, I am also mindful of those who are struggling, who see no light at the end of their particular tunnel, and who would give anything to believe that there is a God who loves and cares for them.

I think — I hope — that it is my growing and developing Christian faith that causes me simultaneously to be thankful and not thankful. On the one hand, I am so thankful to God for all the blessings that are mine. On the other hand, how can I be truly thankful so long as so many others are struggling to find the blessings for which I am so thankful in my own life?

So during this Thanksgiving as I give thanks to God for all of my blessings I am also asking God to bless those who are struggling to know blessing — and to show me how to help them and thereby bless them.

Perhaps you will join me in such prayers.


OPINION: Views expressed in Baptist News Global columns and commentaries are solely those of the authors.
Tags:ThanksgivingGratitudeCommentariesMichael Ruffin
Avatar
More by
Michael Ruffin
  • Get BNG headlines in your inbox

  • Featured

    • How I learned to care about social justice growing up Southern Baptist in Oklahoma

      Opinion

    • Coronavirus challenging denominational summer conventions yet again

      News

    • One year later: Some musings on post-COVID culture and social ethics

      Opinion

    • What I learned by listening to women pastors during the pandemic

      Analysis


    Curated

    • Myanmar’s Christian refugees hold anti-coup protest in India

      Myanmar’s Christian refugees hold anti-coup protest in India

      March 4, 2021
    • Tanzania’s President Focused on Prayer as Coronavirus Cases Climbed

      Tanzania’s President Focused on Prayer as Coronavirus Cases Climbed

      March 4, 2021
    • After Ravi Zacharias report, Christians examine how to avoid ‘betrayal blindness’

      After Ravi Zacharias report, Christians examine how to avoid ‘betrayal blindness’

      March 4, 2021
    • Why a Catholic journalist is urging the church to engage Black Lives Matter

      Why a Catholic journalist is urging the church to engage Black Lives Matter

      March 4, 2021
    Read Next:

    Free Lenten daily devotionals offered

    NewsBNG staff

    More Articles

    • All
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Curated
    • Black Baptist women in ministry and the principality of patriarchy

      OpinionAidsand Wright-Riggins

    • Author of Eugene Peterson biography was one of many shaped by America’s pastor

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Evangelicals are in trouble: Reclaiming ‘Oberlinism” could bring some redemption

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • U.S. agency calls for more religious freedom in Nigeria

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • Repressing my sexual orientation cost me my health — permanently

      OpinionAmber Cantorna

    • World religious leaders remember Shahbaz Bhatti as martyr 10 years later

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • How I learned to care about social justice growing up Southern Baptist in Oklahoma

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • The charismatic story is part of the Baptist story, historian contends

      NewsPat Cole

    • Finding charity amidst the chaos one year into the coronavirus pandemic

      OpinionCurtis Ramsey-Lucas

    • Son’s legacy lives on through Kansas City ministry for children with special needs

      NewsHelen Jerman

    • Maybe your church needs a minister of loneliness

      OpinionErich Bridges

    • Rural churches need to understand the cultural capital of their communities

      AnalysisBrian Foreman and Justin Nelson

    • How slavery still shapes the world of white evangelical Christians

      OpinionRichard T. Hughes

    • New study finds affirmation of Black church experience even as attendance declines

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Faith leaders call for an end to racial bullying in the Indiana legislature

      OpinionIvan Douglas Hicks

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Christian nationalism deeply embedded into American life, Tyler warns

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • One year later: Some musings on post-COVID culture and social ethics

      OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

    • Faith community nurses ‘carry the hope’ during COVID-19 pandemic

      NewsLiam Adams

    • What I learned by listening to women pastors during the pandemic

      AnalysisSusan M. Shaw, Senior Columnist

    • Coronavirus challenging denominational summer conventions yet again

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Why vote to fund something you won’t ever use?

      OpinionGreg Garrett, Senior Columnist

    • Matter-of-fact statements about Scripture aren’t always the gospel truth

      OpinionJordan Conley

    • Some Methodist churches finding greater mission results with simplified governance

      NewsCynthia Astle

    • Black History Month: Remembering, waiting, watching

      OpinionWendell Griffen

    • Author of Eugene Peterson biography was one of many shaped by America’s pastor

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • U.S. agency calls for more religious freedom in Nigeria

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • World religious leaders remember Shahbaz Bhatti as martyr 10 years later

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • The charismatic story is part of the Baptist story, historian contends

      NewsPat Cole

    • Son’s legacy lives on through Kansas City ministry for children with special needs

      NewsHelen Jerman

    • New study finds affirmation of Black church experience even as attendance declines

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Christian nationalism deeply embedded into American life, Tyler warns

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Faith community nurses ‘carry the hope’ during COVID-19 pandemic

      NewsLiam Adams

    • Coronavirus challenging denominational summer conventions yet again

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Some Methodist churches finding greater mission results with simplified governance

      NewsCynthia Astle

    • Diverse religious coalition urges Congress to finalize the Equal Rights Amendment

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • She’s Gen-Z, became leery of the church but practices faith with fitness

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • LGBTQ inclusion and clergy sexual abuse treated equally in SBC expulsions

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • As people walk away from the church in droves, Russ Dean hopes to tell the old story in a new way

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • The strange saga of the Riley Foundation lawsuit now forces SBC to figure out who has the right to remove a seminary trustee

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • In-person worship dropped in January as more churches were directly affected by COVID

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Caldwell succeeds Anderson as chair of BNG board

      NewsBNG staff

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Final vote sounds the death knell for capital punishment in Virginia

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Reeves to lead Fellowship Southwest

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Three years later, Leah Sharibu is still held captive, reportedly for refusing to renounce her faith

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • Wake Forest Divinity gets $5 million grant to help combat HIV/AIDS

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Making the case for why Black History Month is necessary

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Baylor regents ‘accept’ racial history report, will release findings by end of March

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Black Baptist women in ministry and the principality of patriarchy

      OpinionAidsand Wright-Riggins

    • Evangelicals are in trouble: Reclaiming ‘Oberlinism” could bring some redemption

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • Repressing my sexual orientation cost me my health — permanently

      OpinionAmber Cantorna

    • How I learned to care about social justice growing up Southern Baptist in Oklahoma

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • Finding charity amidst the chaos one year into the coronavirus pandemic

      OpinionCurtis Ramsey-Lucas

    • Maybe your church needs a minister of loneliness

      OpinionErich Bridges

    • How slavery still shapes the world of white evangelical Christians

      OpinionRichard T. Hughes

    • Faith leaders call for an end to racial bullying in the Indiana legislature

      OpinionIvan Douglas Hicks

    • One year later: Some musings on post-COVID culture and social ethics

      OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

    • Why vote to fund something you won’t ever use?

      OpinionGreg Garrett, Senior Columnist

    • Matter-of-fact statements about Scripture aren’t always the gospel truth

      OpinionJordan Conley

    • Black History Month: Remembering, waiting, watching

      OpinionWendell Griffen

    • Canada labels Uyghur repression ‘genocide,’ but that’s not as exemplary as you might think

      OpinionRay Mwareya

    • About disfellowshipping churches based on the ‘clear’ teaching of Scripture

      OpinionDalen Jackson

    • What the SBC should learn from the Ravi Zacharias tragedy

      OpinionChrista Brown

    • The Black church and the salvation of the world

      OpinionPaul Robeson Ford

    • St. Benedict and a two-fold path for the church In America

      OpinionH. Stephen Shoemaker

    • What if we cared about Black History Month as much as Lent?

      OpinionRick Pidcock

    • Prophecy is obedient imagination

      OpinionAlan Bean

    • How much wealth does America need before we’ll address homelessness?

      OpinionMichael Chancellor

    • Why we need to talk about abortion

      OpinionRuss Dean

    • How travel and food break through barriers that divide us

      OpinionPhawnda Moore

    • Is the church only for ‘good Christians’?

      OpinionTerry Austin

    • Raging at God after my 67-year-old father died of COVID

      OpinionCarol McEntyre

    • Why I wrote about hope in disarray

      OpinionGrace Ji-Sun Kim

    • Myanmar’s Christian refugees hold anti-coup protest in India

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Tanzania’s President Focused on Prayer as Coronavirus Cases Climbed

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • After Ravi Zacharias report, Christians examine how to avoid ‘betrayal blindness’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Why a Catholic journalist is urging the church to engage Black Lives Matter

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Texas church helps mosque damaged after snowstorm

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Vaccinated for virus, Jimmy Carter and wife back in church

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Black Church Group Offers Its Best Shot at Closing Vaccine Gap

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Man who played Duke Chapel bells for 50 years dies

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Ravi Zacharias’s Denomination Revokes Ordination

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Disinformation Fuels A White Evangelical Movement. It Led 1 Virginia Pastor To Quit

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Southern Baptists divided over politics, race, LGBTQ policy

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Rush Limbaugh, who shaped conservative Christian politics on the radio, has died

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Dallas faith groups help shelter homeless Texans during deep freeze

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • SBU Trustees Reverse Some Tenure/Promotion Denials

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • U.S. Supreme Court sides with Alabama death row inmate, declines to lift stay of execution over state’s refusal to allow clergy in chamber

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Survey: Black Americans attend church and pray more often

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • How Christian Bookstores Survived 2020

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Celebrating Ash Wednesday in a pandemic? There’s an app for that

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • From ‘Lent-in-a-box’ to ‘ash n dash’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • No execution: Courts side with inmate wanting pastor present

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • New Arkansas Law Exempts Churches from Pandemic Restrictions

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Survey: More than a quarter of white evangelicals believe core QAnon conspiracy theory

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Evangelical Colleges Consider the Future of Online Education After COVID-19

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Law firm details sexual misconduct by global ministry leader

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Nation’s first human-composting funeral home is now open in the state of Washington

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    Conversations that Matter.

    © 2021 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

    Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS