Maybe it’s cliché: the “why I’m thankful” blog entry during Thanksgiving week.
But the whole reason for the holiday is (turkey? Nope. Football? Uh-uh. Shopping? NO.) to intentionally stop and give thanks for all that we have to the One who gives it.
Elisabeth Elliot, one of my all-time favorite authors, has a fitting chapter in her book Keep A Quiet Heart:
Some people are substituting “Turkey Day” for Thanksgiving. I guess it must be because they are not aware that there’s anybody to thank, and they think that the most important thing about the holiday is food. Christians know there is Somebody to thank, but often when we make a list of things to thank Him for we include only things we like. A bride and groom can’t get away with that. They write a note t everybody, not only the rich uncle who gave the couple matching BMWs, but the poor aunt who gave them a crocheted toilet-paper cover. In other words, they have to express thanks for whatever they’ve received.
Wouldn’t that be a good thing for us to do with God? We are meant to give thanks “in everything” even if we’re like the little girl l who said she could think of a lot of things she’d rather have than eternal life. The mature Christian offers not just polite thanks but heartfelt thanks that springs from a far deeper source than his own pleasure. Thanksgiving is a spiritual exercise, necessary to the building of a healthy soul. It takes us out of the stuffiness of ourselves into the fresh breeze and sunlight of the will of God. The simple act of thanking Him is for most of us an abrupt change of activity, a break from work and worry, a move toward re-creation.
And another thought on why we should give thanks even when God doesn’t give us what we ask:
“God never witholds from His child that which His love and wisdom call good. God's refusals are always merciful -- "severe mercies" at times but mercies all the same. God never denies us our hearts desire except to give us something better.” -Elisabeth Elliot
