Like a lot of high school seniors across the nation, my kids are taking government. The timing is great with the presidential election coming up next year. Since all five of my children will be able to vote in the election for the first time, voting has been a topic of conversation at our house.
A couple of the kids have expressed a concern of being fully informed as voters. We’ve watched some of the debates and talked about what the candidates have 
said. One of my daughters said that it was frustrating to watch because they seemed to not directly answer the questions asked and that their answers seemed to change over time. It created enough confusion and frustration to make a couple of my kids question whether or not they should vote if they weren’t really sure. That’s when we discussed the honor, privilege, and freedom we have to vote. We reminded them of the groups of people all over the world who aren’t allowed to vote or do so facing very difficult and dangerous circumstances. I suggested to one of my daughters that we take voting for granted and forget what a blessing it is to participate in choosing our officials.
We’ve become complacent about our blessing.
But isn’t that the case with a lot of things? Good health. A place to live. Transportation. Family. Friends. A job. Food. Internet access. Clothing. Toys(children’s and adult’s alike). And the list goes on and on. When I have those things on a daily basis, I begin to take them for granted. I become complacent. I become ungrateful.
Until it’s taken away.
Then I remember. It’s all a gift. And I’m not promised it will last.
My hope is I would learn to be grateful each day for what God has given me. That I would learn to not take the gifts for granted and become complacent. That I would learn to use what God has given me, to do what He calls me to do. And that I would remember I’m not promised tomorrow, so I should start today…
