Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving, but it doesn’t really feel like Thanksgiving at all.  Hot, humid, and a normal school day just like every other Thursday – 4 classes, chapel, after school duty and Bible study.  I am not gathering with my family around a table full of food.  But that’s not what it’s really about, is it?  It’s never been about the food or the football or the friends and family.  In fact, maybe those things have become the face of the holiday more than the real meaning.  Of course we are thankful for those things – but how much time during Thanksgiving do we actually spend giving thanks?  A day set aside to give thanks to God for all of his wonderful gifts, so many of which we take for granted.  Our abundance can sometimes lead to a poverty of gratitude; kind of reverse of what it should be, huh?  The more we have the less grateful we are and the less we have the more we treasure each small gift.  In our wealth we become entitled to things, or we just always have them so we don’t even think about the fact that it’s a gift.

I’ve always found it a good practice to list my gifts, list my thanks. Each small or big thing I think of is written down and given thanks for (this idea came from One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp)… the sunrise, birds chirping, hot coffee, hugs from students, etc.  It really does make you stop and think about all the gifts in your life, so many of which you look over without a second glance.  But this is a time to pause and give thanks to God for all things, big and small, that he has graciously given us.

The topic in Bible study this week is selfishness… that is where we tend to live, isn’t it?  We look to ourselves and our needs and our wants and we strive to fulfill those longings.  Our eyes are fixed on the empty places of our hearts and we strive and grasp for things to fulfill it.  If we just get this next new thing, or make this new friend, or eat that last cookie, all will be well.  But we achieve that goal and ache continues.  Have you ever noticed when you’re giving thanks that the ache stops?  That the hole feels full?  That when we take our eyes off ourselves and fix them on God and his goodness and love that we are doing what we were meant to do?  Because that is what thanksgiving is really about – glorifying God, which is what we humans were made to do from the very beginning.  Instead of trying to lift ourselves up and fill the empty hole, we lift God up and he makes us whole.

I’ve always loved the quote by John Piper, “God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him.”  Thanksgiving – a reminder to live satisfied in God.  A time to remember God and his goodness and his lavished love on our lives.  A time to stop striving and remember the gifts, list the thanks, and in doing so lift up God in our hearts. 

Have you ever read Psalm 107?  Here is a little summary of parts of it…

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    

his love endures forever….

[The Lord rescues people from wandering in a desert]

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
    

and his wonderful deeds for mankind,

for he satisfies the thirsty
    

and fills the hungry with good things….

[The Lord rescues rebellious people from their ways]

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
   

 and his wonderful deeds for mankind. 

Let them sacrifice thank offerings
    

and tell of his works with songs of joy….

[The Lord lifts the afflicted and increases families]

The upright see and rejoice,
    

but all the wicked shut their mouths.

Let the one who is wise heed these things
    

and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord.

I pray that you would see the gifts of God and rejoice, and spend time today pondering the loving deeds

 of the Lord in your life.