Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday, but I sometimes wonder if we’ve made gratitude a little too easy.
We gather around tables filled with food, surrounded by family and friends, and give thanks for the good things in our lives. And we should. There is much to be grateful for.
Giving Thanks in Difficult Times
But what happens when the table has an empty chair? When the medical report isn’t good? When money is tight, relationships are strained, or the future looks uncertain?
What does Thanksgiving mean then?
The Apostle Paul wrote, “Give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Notice what he didn’t say. He didn’t tell us to give thanks for all circumstances. He told us to give thanks in them.
That’s an important distinction.
We don’t have to be grateful for illness, grief, loneliness, or hardship. God doesn’t expect us to pretend that painful things are good. Christian faith isn’t about putting on a happy face when our hearts are breaking.
Instead, gratitude is a way of recognizing that even in the middle of life’s difficulties, God’s grace is still at work.
John Wesley understood that faith is something we practice, not simply something we believe. We grow in grace through prayer, worship, acts of mercy, and the ordinary ways we care for one another.
And I would suggest that gratitude is part of that growth.
When we give thanks, we begin to see the world differently. We notice the kindness of a neighbor, the encouragement of a friend, the beauty of an ordinary morning. We discover that grace often arrives without fanfare, in the small and easily overlooked moments of life.
Gratitude as a Way of Life
But gratitude should do more than make us feel better. It should change the way we live.
If we’re thankful for having enough to eat, we ought to care about those who don’t. If we’re grateful for friendship, we ought to notice those who are lonely. If we’re thankful for the love and mercy we’ve received, we ought to extend that same love and mercy to others.
That’s where thanksgiving becomes more than a holiday. It becomes a way of life.
This November, I encourage you to do something beyond making a list of your blessings. Think about how you might become a blessing to someone else.
Make a phone call. Share a meal. Offer forgiveness. Visit someone who doesn’t get many visitors. Give generously, not out of obligation, but out of gratitude.
And if this Thanksgiving finds you carrying a heavy burden, remember that you don’t have to manufacture happiness to be faithful. God meets us where we are, not where we pretend to be.
Maybe the deepest thanksgiving of all is simply this:
Whatever life brings, we do not walk through it alone.
Thanks be to God.
Pastor Rob