I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.
Psalm 34:1, NIV
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV
I hope all of our American friends had a great Thanksgiving enjoying a bountiful feast, lots of football, and not suffering any casualties during the ensuing shopping frenzy (don’t laugh, it happened).
Brenda and I shared the holiday meal with her family, which is still going through a challenging time after the recent passing of her mother and nephew. As you can imagine, a family experiencing the first major holiday without their matriarch dealt with a wide range of emotions.
Holidays in general can produce some of the most extreme emotions we experience at both ends of the spectrum. When things are good, when we are enjoying abundance, it is the best time to acknowledge and celebrate those blessings. It is also a time when we often miss what we don’t have the most intensely, whether it is material things or loved ones.
It is especially sweet to enjoy the security and opportunities that material wealth can provide, and Brenda and I are more blessed in that area than either of have ever been, either separately or together. While she is well along in the grieving and healing process, it was painful to see other members of her family, already in much more challenging situations than ours, still struggling mightily with the pain of loss and survivors guilt.
I believe the Lord spoke to me when I was asked to offer the blessing before our Thanksgiving meal. I gave thanks for those who were standing in that house, ready to dive into a delicious meal, and also gave thanks for those who weren’t with us, for what they meant to us and will continue to mean in our lives.
You see, giving thanks is not just a good idea. It’s not just a way of humbling ourselves by acknowledging the true source of our blessings (although I believe that is very important).
We should give thanks, first and foremost, because the Bible tells us to. I quote two verses above showing that message very clearly, but there are plenty of others.
The part of that we so often lose track of is to give thanks at ALL times.
Really? Brenda is supposed to give thanks because her mother passed away? No, but she should, and did, give thanks for the life she led, for the impact she had on her family and church, and for the knowledge that she is in heaven feeling no pain and enjoying her glorified body and fellowship with Jesus!
Is Brenda supposed to give thanks for the gaping hole her mother’s passing left in her family? No, but she can give thanks for the opportunity to draw closer to her sisters and nieces, to help them lean more on each other instead of her mother.
Is Brenda supposed to give thanks that her nephew passed away just as it appeared his life was moving it its most positive direction yet? No, but she can be thankful that this led to his daughter and two grandchildren got reconnected with his mother and now have the potential of having a relationship that was previously non-existent.
Our God is a “glass half full” God. In fact, He is always poised to fill the other half back up when some spills out, even though it may not look quite like (or anything like) what was lost. Sometimes we have to look very, very hard, but I believe there will always be something positive our lives can gain from even the worst events or circumstances.
If we have trouble seeing that in the natural, we can always ask the Holy Spirit to point it out to us.
Then we can give thanks, not just because God told us to, but because we want to.
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