How Will I Say Thanks?

How will you celebrate Thanksgiving this year? Will you be with family and friends, celebrating with lots of conversation and laughter? Or will it be a quiet celebration, remembering a loved one who is not present this year?

Regardless of how you celebrate, I am sure you will agree there have been significant changes in your life and in the lives of your family, your church, your community, and the world. Although Thanksgiving Day is not a Christian holiday, gratitude is at the heart of being a follower of Jesus. So, taking seriously the challenges and changes over the past year, listen closely to Paul’s direction to the Thessalonians: “…give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

As Thanksgiving Day approaches, you have the opportunity to focus on the people for whom you are thankful. Over the years, I have heard and read of interesting things for which people are grateful.

I Am Grateful For… 

I read of one man who said, “I am grateful for the paperweight on my desk.  I have had it for over 30 years. It is an ordinary rock that has red and yellow paint splattered on it. It is not worth much, but I wouldn’t sell it for any amount of money in the world. My son was 5 years old when he made it for me in a Sunday School class. It is a symbol of his love.” 

I also read of a woman who said, “I love the homemade greeting card I got from my daughter. On the front of the card, she drew a picture of the earth and wrote the words, “To the World’s Most Sweetest Mom.” Inside the card she wrote, “Happy Birthday,” then scratched through it and wrote, “Happy Mother’s Day.” She signed the card, “Love, Sarah (6 years old)” When she gave me the card, she pointed out her mistake inside and said, “Even though I made a mistake, you are the same Mom.” 

Grateful for Relationships

Over the years, I have learned that most people, regardless of their circumstances, are truly grateful for their relationships with family, friends, colleagues, and other significant persons in their lives.

I have experienced that genuine gratitude focuses on the giver of the gift rather than on the gift itself. To paraphrase Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, “You can gain the whole world and all the gifts in it, but without gratitude, you will miss the giver and lose your soul.” Celebrating the giver rather than the gift is the point. When you make that breakthrough, you will never be the same. That kind of gratitude changes your life.

As I reflect over the past 50 plus years, I remember a time that gratitude took root in my life. I was in high school. Being the oldest of five and living in an unstable complex home environment, I often felt isolated and alone. It might have been because I was a teenager, but I think it was my troubled home life that led me to turn toward the church.  It was in and through my relationships in the church that Jesus became real to me. I experienced a love that would not let me go.

It was about that same time that Andrae Crouch wrote a powerful, uplifting gospel song titled, “My Tribute.” He wrote:

How can I say thanks for the things you have done for me?
Things so undeserved yet you gave to prove Your love for me;
The voices of a million angels could not express my gratitude
All that I am and ever hope to be, I owe it all to Thee.

To God be the glory, to God be the glory.
        to God be the glory, for the things He has done
With His blood He has saved me, with His power He has raised me;
        to God be the glory for the things He has done

Just let me live my life. Let it be pleasing, Lord to Thee
And if I gain any praise let it go to Calvary.

To God be the glory for the things He has done.

Gratitude in Action

Those words went straight to my heart. I was grateful for a community of people who surrounded me with love and acceptance, who took me in and let me be so I could become who God had created me to be.

I have learned that God reaches out to embrace me in and through the people around me. My guess is, if you take a moment to reflect upon it, regardless of your circumstances, you are grateful for several relationships in your life.

So, this week, put your gratitude into action. Think of one or two persons for whom you are grateful. (You know you can name as many as you want). Think of someone who has brought love, joy, and gladness into your life. Someone who, because of their generosity, has changed your life. Get that person’s face in our mind and name on your lips. Hold them in your mind and heart as you read the following.

Life is a Gift

When John Claypool was pastor of Crescent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, he lost his ten-year-old daughter to leukemia. He said that gratitude was the only way he survived. In his book, Tracks of a Fellow Struggler, he delivered a series of sermons regarding his daughter’s death. 

He walked down three different paths. The first path was to say, “Well, it was just God’s will. I have to accept it.” But he said that was not helpful. He could not believe that God willed ten-year-old girls to die of leukemia.

A second path was to try to find an intellectual answer as to why this happened. He tried to make sense of it. But that didn’t work either. His daughter’s death didn’t make any sense.

Finally, he walked the path of gratitude. He realized that life is a gift, and we are not entitled to it. He wrote that to have any life at all is pure gift and pure grace. John Claypool chose to be thankful for the ten good years they had together rather than being consumed with resentment for the years he did not have with her. His path of gratitude was not easy, but it was the only path which offered any help.

Giving God Thanks

Keep that in mind as you read the following: Many years ago, an elderly English pastor was famous for his pulpit prayers. He is always grateful for something. Even in the bad times he would give God thanks.

One stormy Sunday morning, when everything was going extremely bad in the community and in the lives of many people in the congregation, he stepped to the pulpit to pray. A member of the congregation thought to himself, “The preacher will have nothing to thank God for on a wretched morning like this.” But the elderly pastor bowed his head and began his prayer, “We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this.”

G.K. Chesterton, in his book, The Power of Gratitude: More Than Just a Thanksgiving Tradition, wrote, “When we were children, we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?”

The practice of gratitude reminds us to appreciate life’s simple blessings. Whether it’s thanking God for the sunshine, the rain, or showing appreciation to those around you, gratitude helps you become the person God created you to be. 

Love As You Have Been Loved

By God’s grace, you express your gratitude by loving as you have been loved.  When gratitude overtakes you, you forget to be afraid. You begin to trust and have time for the greater things in life. Once you experience and express your gratitude, you will never be the same. Ultimately, gratitude is a choice. By consciously choosing to focus on the good in every person and situation, you shift your perspective and become more generous. Embracing a grateful mindset empowers you to see challenges as opportunities for growth, making you more resilient and better equipped to handle life’s stresses.

Now, let’s go back to the person I asked you to remember. Get that person’s face in your mind and name on your lips. Give God thanks for that person and for who you are because of their presence and influence in your life. Now, how will you say thanks? What one thing will you do to express your gratitude? Make a phone call? Send a text, email, or bake cookies and deliver them? Remember, it is the giver and not the gift who makes the difference.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!