Things I’m thankful for

“Black Friday sale!” “75% off deals” “Save..save..save”

These were just a few of the emails that landed in my inbox this week. Reminded me of another world approximately 10-13hrs behind my current time-zone. A world where shopping and buying and accumulating ‘stuff’ takes over the minds of every sane person.

I feel like I’m in an alternative world right now. I mean, as I’m typing this – there are children dying of diarrhea (a relatively simple disease with low-cost remedies) and there are people spending enough money on gift-wrap that could feed an entire family for months.

Living in India definitely has its ups and downs – I can’t seem to get past that. At times, I feel at home here. And many days I can’t wait to get out of here. I’ve definitely grown in different ways and alternatively there are things that have remained stagnant. But this post is not about the crazy thought-world of Devina. It is about the holidays.

While I feel like I’m a world away from the holiday season (India doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving – which marks beginning of the craziness that is the Christmas holiday season with all it’s commercial glory), I am also looking deeper to realize what the holidays mean to me.

While I have actually traditionally hated Christmas since I moved to the US, (I could write a whole another blog post on why!), this holiday season – I’m reminded of so many things to be grateful for. I’ll attempt to list a few here – in no particular order.

• My mother: I could write a book on her life and all the lessons that she’s taught me.
• My sister – my little sister is one of my best friends. Though we hardly talk much – the little Googlie bear is growing up fast and teaching me a lot.
• My life in the US: I appreciate the niceties in the US – living in India has taught me to appreciate even the simplest things like hot showers, clothes dryers, green salads and clean water.
• My friends – I have people in my life that I call my own at varying levels of intimacy. I pray for a lot of them on a regular basis and am grateful for them.
• The opportunity to travel – I have been blessed to grow up in a developing country, move to a more developed country and have an opportunity to go back to work in a developing country. While the upheaval with each move was not easy, I wouldn’t trade my life for anything.
• Ability to speak four languages – I’m SO grateful for my language skills, and ability to pick up languages, especially in India! It comes in useful when haggling with the auto-rickshaw drivers. Ha!
• Spices: I love to cook! Mainly because I love food. I’m lazy about cooking for myself – but love to entertain and have people over. Living in India has been in living in food heaven! I’ve been tantalized with every possible spice combination!
• Education: There was a time that I would have laughed if you told me that I’d one-day have a masters degree. I’m grateful for the schooling that I have received. Especially when I see how much thirst for knowledge is there in the people around me.
• My Lord and Savior Jesus: who continues to be there for me in spite of who I am. Who teaches me on a regular basis how to live fully, how to laugh often and how to love sacrificially.

I hope that this year's holiday season is a meaningful one for you – wherever you may be. Either sitting in cold wintery weather, or hot sunny tropical weather. I hope you are able to take a few breaths and step back from the commercialization that the holidays have become and look around you. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘Whenever you’re faced with a doubt/difficulty, look into the face of the weakest/most vulnerable person that you may encountered. Ask yourself - is my next step going to benefit them or better their life?’. Things will be clear and you'll learn how much you really DO have..

Happy Thanksgiving!