Chaplain's Corner: Peel it! Published April 24, 2009 By Chaplain (Capt.) Kelly Stahl Tinker Chapel TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla., -- A young boy received a big, plump orange from his mother one day as a snack. The boy grabbed the orange and started to walk away. The little boy's mother, wanting to teach the boy a lesson about thankfulness asked, "What do you say?" He looked at the orange, held it up and said, "Peel it!" We all battle the "unthankful heart syndrome" at times. We get a gift or an opportunity and instead of truly being thankful for it we wonder why it couldn't have been a little bigger, shinier, faster, cooler (name your adjective). Constantly being in a state of thankfulness is not easy. We get complacent and self centered. I think we are not intentionally self seeking, usually, but we get so focused on our little scope of influence we pursue our own pleasure and interests over others. That is why, when natural disasters happen or economic issues hit hard or family emergencies fall into our laps we kind of snap back into the reality of how good we have it or maybe had it. But before we get snapped back into a mode of thankfulness, we are just like that boy, holding out a blessing and demanding more be done on our behalf. There is a story in the Bible that talks about a time when Jesus healed 10 people with a terrible skin disease. He had told them to go to the priest and present themselves, as was the custom. If one had an ailment, they had to separate themselves from the general population until they were better and only a priest could tell them if they were better. As the 10 men were walking to the priest they realized they no longer had the skin disease but only one returned to Jesus to thank him for the healing. I am sure the men were thinking about being reunited with their families and loved ones. They could sleep in their own beds, eat around other people and even feel the touch of other people again. All that is exciting and wonderful, but they forgot the importance of thankfulness! Maintaining an attitude of "gratitude" isn't easy. Another story is of a couple that had a son killed in a war and donated a monetary gift to their church in memory of him because they were thankful they had such an honorable, courageous and loving son. Another couple was driving home from church when the wife said, "Let's give a gift for our son, too." The husband noted that their son was still alive. The wife said, "Exactly! All the more reason to be thankful!" Perspective has a lot to do with thankfulness. You may have lost everything you had but did anyone lose their life? You may be financially struggling but have you eaten? You may have health concerns but did you get up this morning? We need to be thankful so we continue appreciate our blessing instead of demanding someone else "peel it" too.