Who Are We Thanking?

Thanksgiving 2 years ago.

Who Are We Thanking?

I love Thanksgiving, it’s one of my all time FAVORITES.

I love seeing people posting and expressing their thanks all month.

It seems so fitting that Thanksgiving and Veteran’s Day fall in the same month.

I love when people post a picture of their dad, or husband or mother or sister, or child, in their uniform, and people jump in and say,

“Thank you for your service and sacrifice.” 

It is very powerful to see that person, and see people acknowledge their service and be thankful for them.

I believe gratitude loses it’s power if it is only felt and never expressed to someone that can receive it. Make no mistake about it, God can see our hearts and knows if we are thankful, but oh how He loves to hear it from our mouth in praise and thanksgiving.

The Psalms are full of thanks to God, but the beautiful part is not only the thanks that David felt, but that he expressed it so beautifully and often and detailed, so that God could not only see his heart, but hear it, and people for centuries all over the world, even to this very day, get to enjoy and join in the THANKSGIVING that David felt and EXPRESSED to God.

It's a powerful thing to let others join in our thanksgiving!

 We did an exercise in gratitude at PB&J (youth group) last night.  It was very interesting to me how easy it was to roll off the kids’ tongues what they are thankful for.  We went around the room saying what we are thankful for, but then when we went back around the room and had to give credit to someone in our life for the thing in which we just said we were thankful for, it got a little harder; and then when we went around the room one final time and had to give God thanks for at least one thing, with our words, in front of everyone, and then had to pick someone in the room to say “thank you” for something specific, it got really hard for some and quite awkward. 

So the kids would say something like, “I want to thank God for my family.”

And then they would look at someone in the room and say something like,

“Thank you Zoe for being a good friend.”

You would think this would be easy and pretty natural for these kids that are all friends and it actually got pretty awkward but also sweetly reverent. 

The kids took it seriously and we could all feel the change in mood in the room.

It went from silly and pretty loud to a little more serious and sincere.

We talked about WHY it’s hard to be boldly thankful, and to be thankful in front of people, and even harder TO THANK specific people, and it boiled down to our

PRIDE.

So think about this…..the most thankful people are the people that have received, but also acknowledge that they receive.

If I hand my kids money, I hope they never look at that money and tell it thank you.  I want them to look me in the eye and say thank you and loud enough so I can hear it….which seems to need to be louder all the time.  I truly believe that “thank you” is just as much for the person saying it as the person hearing it, not that the "hearer" needs it, but is encouraged by it.

When I get home from a drive to town, it would be idolatry to look at my car and thank it, but it is a wonderful thing to look to God and give thanks that he got me to town and back one more time, even though He used a car to do it.

When Esther (who is learning to drive) gets me from point A to point B without a wreck or a heart attack I say thank you to her and to God! 

That accomplishment deserves the double whammy thank you. 

So when we are giving thanks, and especially in this season let’s be so mindful and intentional of
WHO
 we are thanking. 

Let’s thank people and especially thank our living and loving 

Father God! 

2 Corinthians 9:9-11English Standard Version (ESV)

⁹ As it is written,

“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
    his righteousness endures forever.”

¹⁰ He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹ You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

All that we have given and  all that we have been given should drive us right to giving THANKS to God!

We would all much rather be the giver, in most cases, but it seems it is better for our hearts to receive.

Receiving puts us in the HUMBLE position.

The thing we often forget is even when we do get to be the GIVER; it is only because we have RECEIVED first.
We can’t give what we haven't received.

This messes with us and especially our pride, we want to think we have "earned" all that we have, and then we have the opportunity to be generous.

I would challenge that thinking.

We only have the opportunity to “earn” because we have been “given” much opportunity.

So once again, the biggest givers are actually the biggest receivers.

That's a shift in perspective....

When we go to Uganda we receive so much more than we give IN EVERY WAY, and the truth is, everything we have to give, we have been given by a generous and gracious God.

Even our time and our energy, we have been GIVEN by our God.

May this Thanksgiving be a time of truly understanding what we have received, and for that be THANKFUL to God first, and the people He put in our lives to deliver the blessing.

If we express thanksgiving and never direct it to a person or our God, we might even be bragging about how thankful we are, like....look at me, I'm the most thankful.......

As I watched the kids go thru the exercise and they were happy to give thanks…they were proud to be thankful, and then when they had to name names of who they were thankful to, even if that person wasn't here, they squirmed a little.  And trust me….we are all like this, the kids were just willing to participate in the exercise.

KNEES OVERSEAS!!!

I pray as we are less than 2 weeks away from going to Uganda that we receive all that God has for us.  I pray we empty ourselves of ourselves and we are ready to receive all that He has for us as we prepare and as we go.
I pray we are truly thankful and that we are loud and proud to give thanks to people God has put in our lives and to God for our very lives!

  May we be humble and realize if there is anything we give it is only because we have been

 GIVEN SO MUCH!

Luke 12:47-49English Standard Version (ESV)

⁴⁷ And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. ⁴⁸ But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Thanksgiving can be a lot of fun.  I have no idea what got us going, but this picture made me laugh just looking at it.  I thank God for laughter!!!