A Thanksgiving Thought

The training to say “thank you” began early in my life.  After receiving a gift as a child, the parental prompt “what do you say to Aunt Sally” would always follow.  Birthdays and Christmas were true tests of my training.  As I opened a homemade crocheted pink sweater that was at least 3 sizes too big and in my mind ugly, every adult eye was watching to see if I would smile and say “thank you” and every child was watching to see if I would break ranks and say what I really thought.  Saying thank you was mandatory even if the gift was not what I wanted or not something I liked.  When someone gives you a gift, you say “thank you.”  It is just an automatic. When I was growing up, handwritten thank you cards were expected.  Now there are not many handwritten thank you cards going out.  A quick thanks on facebook or in an e-mail will suffice.  So when the words “Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart” by Henry Smith came to my mind it got me to thinking.  I began to wonder if my “thank you” came from a truly grateful heart or was it just the result of years of training.

I began to think about a whole day being titled “Thanksgiving Day.”  A whole day set aside for the purpose of giving thanks.  In today’s society, that really seems excessive and lost on most people, including me sometimes.  Thanksgiving, like most of our holidays, has lost its underlying value.  A whole day to say thanks seems like way too much time so we fill it up with huge amounts of food, gearing up for Christmas, watching TV, and taking naps.  If we take a few minutes before we eat to go around the table and ask each person to share one thing they are thankful for, we feel like we have satisfied the Thanksgiving requirement.  I can’t speak for you, but if I am truthful, I would have to tell you that as I sit at the Thanksgiving table and give my answer I think my parents would be proud that their training stuck, but I’m not so sure it would satisfy the “give thanks from a grateful heart” criteria. 

I wish I had this whole thought perfectly worked out so I could share it with beauty, but right now it is pretty much still in the mixing together messy stage.  But here is where I am right now.  For me, being thankful seems to reflect back to me.  I am thanking you for helping me, sharing with me, encouraging me, doing something for me.  It is pretty much about me.  But saying thank you from a grateful heart somehow turns the thanks to God.   I take the time to realize that every blessing comes into my life from God.  He is the giver of every good and perfect gift.  It is not about me at all but all about God’s amazing love for me.  I am blessed because of the selfless sacrifice of Jesus.

Saying thanks from my head is actually pretty simple and quick but saying thanks from a grateful heart takes time and reflection. A thank you that comes from a place of gratitude is humbling and moving.  It comes as I recognize that all that I have is a gift given to me by God.  Gratitude floods my heart as I recognize it is not about me at all, but about my amazing Lord.  This Thanksgiving I am shooting for giving thanks from a grateful heart.

I have a feeling this is how God would have me live the entirety of my life but I have to start somewhere.

Wishing you all a heartfelt Thanksgiving Day.

Gratitude fills the heart when the gift has been understood and wonder fills the soul when gratitude is expressed to the fullest.  Ravi Zacharias.