Here’s the Christian Comment I wrote for The Gisborne Herald on 31 Dec 2010. Happy New Year everyone.

“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful to God, and bless his holy name.”

Psalm 100:4

Someone once told the story of a man who would rummage through the local tip to find refuse that could be restored and given as gifts. He was not poor. The man had a job and earned enough. However, he refused to spend his money, preferring instead to find gifts at the local tip.

His wife and children grew increasingly embarrassed and angry. They threatened to leave this man if he did not change his ways. Shocked by their ultimatum, the man sat down and wept, and began to tell his family a secret he had kept hidden from them.

The man revealed that he had lied about his childhood. His parents had not died when he was young. The truth was he never knew his parents, and from an early age he had fled to live alone on the streets. During that time he learned how to find toys and clothes, so that he could celebrate Christmas like all those children he saw shopping with their parents.

Even when he grew up, got a job, and got married, he found it hard to change his habits.

“And why should I?” said the man, weeping, “I longed for what those other children had, and yet they would throw their stuff away like it was nothing. I knew that if they couldn’t appreciate what they had, I could. I was always happy when I found stuff I could keep and use. I was always grateful. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I just wanted you to be happy like I was when I was a child.”

This new year, make a resolution to be grateful for your blessings – for life, family, and friends. You won’t regret it.

Happy New Year.