I don’t know about you, but Thanksgiving has snuck up on me this year. Because the first of the month was a Monday, the second Monday falls immediately after the first Sunday this year – meaning that it feels like Thanksgiving is a week early. It also falls on World Communion Sunday, the day set aside by all Christian groups for the mutual celebration of the Lord’s Supper. So I feel snuck up on.
But that’s okay. In one sense, it shouldn’t really matter, since for followers of Jesus, every day is Thanksgiving. (Thankfully, we don’t eat a big turkey dinner every day, or I’d be really fat.) There are lots of catch phrases for it: “an attitude of gratitude”, “thanksliving”, and so on. We know that we’re called to a life of gratitude, but some days, it is really hard to live it fully.
Here’s a suggestion that might help: consider keeping a journal of things for which you are thankful, and make a point to record at least one each day. It doesn’t have to be complicated; it’s not a “Dear Diary” kind of journal. It might be just a list – a list of things, people, places, and so on, for which you are thankful – and you can record one each day.
The apostle Paul wrote a great challenge to the Thessalonian church: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5.16-18, NIV). It’s not easy to do any of these things. Sometimes, it’s hard to find life joyful; it is difficult to pray continually; it is really hard to give thanks in all circumstances – but, as Paul says, it is God’s will for us.
So start small. Examine your life in such a way that allows you to find even one tiny little thing that allows thanksgiving to flow from your heart. (Remember, the Bible doesn’t tell us to be thankful for everything, but in all circumstances. We can be going through dreadful circumstances, but if we can find even one thing, one person, one phenomenon that allows us to be thankful, we have achieved God’s will in that sense.)
If you still find it difficult, pay attention to your surroundings. Pay attention to the people in your life. Look around. At this time of year especially, it is possible to find something for which to be thankful – if nothing else, then at least the resplendent colour of the trees. Even they are a gift from God that can spur our gratitude.
Try it every day – list one little thing. Then, after a while, review your list. Watch your heart overflow with gratitude as you take a look at all those little things that made you thankful, even if life was not happy for you at the time.
Is this a discipline? You bet it is. Growth in the Christian life is about discipline. But we can do it. And God will bless us as we make the choice to be thankful.
