Thanksgiving Is a Verb

I was thinking this morning about the whole idea of thanksgiving and what it means. I heard one of the guys in our congregation say that he and his wife take time every day with their kids to talk about what each one is thankful for. I thought that was fantastic. What a different outlook on life that will produce over the course of a couple of decades.

In our home growing up, as in many American families, Thanksgiving centered around a feast. There is nothing inherently wrong with that of course, and we did take a brief moment to say a prayer of thanks for all our blessings, but I was mostly focused on the food. I think that if we are not building a much stronger culture of gratitude than that into our children's lives, we are doing them a great disservice. Of course we were encouraged to be thankful at other times too, and we were reminded to "count our blessings" whenever we would complain about the lack of something, but in my estimation my own sense of gratitude needed to be deeper. It wasn't until God became very real in my life, And I began to grasp the enormity of the sacrifice that Jesus made for me, the depth of my own non-deservedness (that's a word 'cause I just used it), and the magnitude of Gods grace, that I really started to be grateful in life.

So, I was pondering a few questions this morning, and I thought some of you might want to ponder them with me:

What does thanksgiving, or thankfulness, really mean if there is no one specifically that you are thankful to? You could feel happy about some aspects of your life, or maybe even feel "blessed" knowing that some people don't have it as good as you do, but is that gratitude? Gratitude has to have an object, doesn't it?

Thanksgiving is not just a feeling, but an expression. Isn't it an expression of gratitude to someone that has shown us kindness, provided for us in some way, or somehow made our lives better? But many people around us say they do not believe in a personal God, so who exactly are they thankful to? If we believe that there is no one but ourselves that is responsible for the good things that we have or enjoy, then who are we saying thank you (did you see the word YOU in thank you?) to?

I guess you could be thankful to your parents, your friends, the society itself; but from where I sit, if you take God out of the picture, the giving of thanks for the blessings of life loses all its meaning. Sure, we are grateful to and for many people and things. But ultimately, all things are to Him, through Him, and for Him. I can be grateful because I have worked hard and carved out such a wonderful life for myself (even saying that makes me a little sick) but who provided me with the talents I possess, the resources I use, the very life in my bones? I feel very sad for people who are missing out on this aspect of life. Gratitude to God fills our lives with humility and peace.

No, thanksgiving is inherently personal, and must be directed toward someone, or it's not thanksgiving. And, it is extremely important that thanks actually be given, that is, expressed in word and deed rather than just thought about - thanksgiving is a verb. My family said grace, and maybe mentioned a few extra things on Thanksgiving Day, but I wish we had taken time to really discuss what we were grateful for, and to whom we were grateful. It is a wonderful and fulfilling thing to give thanks to God. This past Sunday we took the majority of our church service for people to stand up and talk about what they were thankful for. It was wonderfully encouraging for everyone.

So, I simply encourage you today to not only ponder what you are thankful for, but tell God about it, and tell others. And let's go far beyond this short season, and build a continual culture of thanksgiving into our hearts and homes.

Happy Thanksgiving (a verb)