November is here my friends! That means that Thanksgiving is just around the corner. As a kid, I was always a big fan of Thanksgiving. It meant I got to see my family and my mom and aunt would start asking me about what I wanted for Christmas. It was a family tradition that my mom and aunt would go Black Friday shopping together, so Thanksgiving kicked off the Christmas season in a big way.
My love of Christmas and presents often overshadowed the meaning of Thanksgiving in my young life. However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve tried to be more intentional about practicing gratitude, particularly this time of the year. The year is winding down, and it’s a great time to slow down and think through what you’re thankful for.
However, gratitude isn’t just for the Thanksgiving season. It’s a practice that can be helpful throughout the year. It can change your life you if you let it. For that reason, all of my blog posts this month will be on the subject of gratitude and how to be grateful during the Thanksgiving season and beyond.
What Is Gratitude?
According to Merriam-Webster gratitude is “the state of being grateful” or “thankfulness.” Pretty basic. Gratitude is a big deal in the Bible. In the NIV, the word “gratitude” is mentioned only twice, but versions of “thanks”, “thankful” and “thanksgiving” occur 100 times. Obviously, gratitude is a big deal for God, and for good reason.
In the Old Testament, the Israelites were supposed to bring offerings of Thanksgiving to God on a regular basis. This offering was also called a Fellowship Offering. The person would bring a sacrifice to the Tabernacle/Temple in order to give thanks to God and also to spend time with him. Thankfulness and relationship with God went hand in hand for the Israelites. The same holds true today.
When we are grateful for what we have, it brings us closer to God. The reason for this is simple: all that we have is a gift of God’s grace. When we are grateful for what we have, we are reminded of our rightful place in God’s economy. We are simply grateful receptors of God’s gifts of grace (for more on this, see last week’s blog post). We are ultimately dependent on him for everything. Gratitude reminds us of that fact.
Why Gratitude Is So Important in Our World
Gratitude can be really difficult in today’s world. It’s estimated that Americans see 4,000 to 10,000 advertisements every day. Ads are constantly telling us that we are not complete until we acquire whatever the ad is selling. Marketing is really just convincing people that they need something else. This is the opposite of gratitude.
With the advent of social media, gratitude has become even more difficult. While we can recognize that ads are trying to sell us something, the discontent that comes from looking at social media is a bit more subtle. When we’re constantly comparing our everyday lives with the highlight reels of other people, it’s easy for us to be dissatisfied with our lives. We aren’t as interesting as the people we follow. Other people have better friends, they’re more attractive, and their jobs are more meaningful. Or so it seems. It’s easy to slip into jealousy, bitterness, and discontent in the world of social media.
The world around us, subtly and not so subtly, tells us we will never have enough. There’s always something else that we need. If we make more money, just work a little harder, we can get the things we want. If we’re more attractive or more outgoing, we’ll have better friendships and more dates.
How Gratitude Can Change Your Life
Gratitude says God has graciously given us all that we have. The ability to work is a gift of God. Our looks, our relationships, our opportunities are all a gift from God. All that we have has been freely given (either directly or indirectly). All thanks should then be given to God. He has given us what we need in our current time.
The world’s attitude is wrapped around the self: your needs, your ability to work, your preferences, your hard work. If you can dream it you can do. If you’re lacking something, you should work harder. The problem is, that’s not always true. Ecclesiastes 9 says that those who work the hardest don’t always win because “time and chance happen to them all.” Even when we work hard, God is still at work in everything. It doesn’t really depend on you. That’s what grace is all about.
An attitude of gratitude keeps this truth in mind. It keeps us humble, recognizing the things that we have we haven’t earned. We might have worked hard for them, but even then, the ability to work hard and our talents are gifts from God. There’s nothing we have that is not a gift of God’s grace.
When we are thankful for the things we have, we’re less likely to look out at the things we don’t yet have and long for them. We’re more likely to look at the things we do have and thank God for them. That’s what Thanksgiving is really about. That’s what we’ll be learning about the next couple of weeks. So join in the fun!
Photo by Freshh Connection on Unsplash