Gratitude for Government?

Oh joy, tax day is coming quickly! Who else gets excited about filing taxes and forking over your hard-earned money to Caesar? Yeah, me neither.

I should go back and delete that line. I’ve been trying to cut back on sarcastic remarks for a number of years now, but haven’t made as much progress as I’d like.

Here’s a thought: What if we renamed April 15 “Governing Administrators Gratitude Day”? We could call it “GAG Day,” for short. There I go again.

I know it’s easy to bemoan the government’s wasteful spending and overreaching bureaucracy (and I’m all for keeping our leaders accountable and our laws less intrusive), but at the same time let’s not forget the many benefits we do enjoy as citizens of this nation, which remain the envy of the majority of the world population.

Here then are seven reasons to be grateful to those who serve in the government we have – at any level, and in no particular order.

1. The protection and service of local emergency responders. From our police presence to firefighters and EMS workers, when there’s an emergency I am glad for those who can arrive at the scene quickly and handle the situation. We’re blessed to be able to call 911 and know that help is on the way. Many thanks to the likes of Dave Coulter, Rod Harrison and Mark Oller, Patrick Rebbe, Mayor Rick Snyder, and the countless others who serve our community well in this way.

2. Our national defense. Terrorism is real, obviously, as are threats of war and all kinds of security issues, and it is to our great blessing that our military provides a strong national defense against those who would love to destroy us. To all who now serve or have served in our Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marines, we say a huge thank you!

3. Accessible transportation. Despite the potholes you may be dodging on your way to work, the fact that we have such open interstates, highways, bridges, back country roads, and city streets bear evidence that our governing officials seek to keep the Monday morning traffic moving, commerce flowing, and vacation-bound families on their way. Add public transportation options to the mix and you see that we do have quite a fine transportation system going here. Toll roads notwithstanding.

4. Parks. We are fortunate to have two outstanding parks/recreation spaces in our own backyard. Lincoln’s New Salem and Jim Edgar’s Panther Creek provide beautiful open air venues to soak in the goodness of God’s creative glory. Or if you like to venture out, our National Park Service and other tax-funded organizations offer a plethora of thrilling sites all across America. I am happy to help pay to keep our parks open.

5. Education. We’re blessed to have wise school administrators, outstanding teachers and coaches, good bus drivers, and all kinds of helpful and caring support personnel at the PORTA schools. I wish they could all be paid double what they’re making now. Thank you to all who work and serve in our local schools!

6. All the others I don’t have space to mention, like Civil Works, Veterans Affairs, our justice system, postal system, FDA, FCC, FEMA, and more. I have a feeling we don’t even know how much good such governing bodies do for us.

7.  We can be grateful because God ordains and appoints the governing authorities. The Bible says, “the authorities are ministers of God;” so, “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed” (Romans 13:6-7). And if God designs and desires government to work for the good of the people, who am I to argue?

I’ll try to remember all this when I write out my check on April 15.