BY STEVE DUNN
Which of the scenes to my right resemble the main activity of the way your family will celebrate
Thanksgiving? Will your celebration be shortened because you have an appointment with Black Friday--which is still arriving despite recent campaigns--on Thanksgiving Thursday afternoon? Will the meal be scheduled around the big football game or consumed on TV chairs instead around a family table? Will you have an elaborate family meal marked with some words of gratitude and a prayer, savored in its fullness until you are forced to push back from the table?
I know that every year someone will launch into a critique or diatribe against the erosion of the
sacredness of the Thanksgiving swept up in the madness of sports and even great madness of battling the frenzied crowds in shopping centers. That's not my intent today as I and my family observe the Thanksgiving holiday.
My desire is to reflect with you on a truth that has shaped my life for much of the past 67 years and recently become an even more precious value. Let me lead into this with some quotes:
"Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men;
but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude." - E.P. Powell
Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation. - ~ John Ortberg
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. - Psalm 103.1-5
Do you hear the thread that works way through these thoughts? True thanksgiving comes from grateful hearts-hearts that recognize that all that we have is a gift from God. Not the least of which is our lives, but also our families, our gifts, our opportunities, and yes--even our challenges . Long ago Paul wrote these words to the Ephesians: "Rejoice in the Lord always, and I will say it again--rejoice!"
Too many of us focus on what we don't have or worse, we believe that we are self-made men and women who author our own blessings. Too many of us look at what God has given us and measure against what He has given others and feel cheated. Or we elevate what God has given us to a place He never intended. Like the Pharisee in the parable, "Oh God, I thank you that I am not like other men … like this sinner over there."
"He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, `God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, `God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” - Luke 8.9-14
True thanksgiving is recognizing the indescribable gift that God has given us--which outweighs anything else we possess--and living lives that express our gratitude in the way in obedience to Him.
