Thanks Giving

We are preparing to enter into the week of Thanksgiving.  A time that for many of us means family and food (and football).  Thanksgiving is a time to be together with those you love and after being away from my family, I am thankful we will be together this year. We will cook our favorite dishes together and then sit around a big table with our extended family and eat more food than we need to eat.  I know that I will look around the table and see my daughter's beautiful faces and be thankful that we are together.  I will see my sister and her family and her family's family and be grateful that we are all together.  We will laugh and share family stories.  We will play games and my heart (in addition to my belly) will be full.

Yet I wonder if we even know what it means to be grateful.  All around me are advertisements and signs for "Black Friday."  A day after Thanksgiving, thousands and thousands of consumers will rush to shopping malls to fight the crowds to buy more the day after we focused on being grateful for all we have.  Our consumer mentality wins out while 46 million Americans continue to live in poverty and the whole nation of the Philippians fights for survival.  Where should our gratitude be focused?

You see, we tend to be thankful for stuff but scripture tell us that we need to be in all things because God is in all things.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 says,  "Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." 

Now I don't think Paul is saying we need to say, "gosh, I'm really thankful for this cancer I have," or "I'm so glad I lost my job!"   That wouldn't be real.  Hard times are hard times. They suck.  But what we can thank God for is his unending, unconditional love and grace and mercy in the midst of all circumstances through Jesus Christ.  God is faithful and steadfast.   We are called to rejoice in him, pray to him and give thanks to him for his mercies.   

We are blessed people and yet I know that I fail to see and understand the many, many blessings God pours on me each and every day.  And so it's not so much about a day called Thanksgiving but a spirit of thanks giving - giving thanks each and every day to a might and powerful, yet loving and merciful God.  May this spirit of giving thanks be our spirit - this coming week and this coming year.

Psalm 105:1   Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done.