SPIRIT OF THANKSGIVING

It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night. (Psalm 92:1-2 ESV)

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. (Psalm 95:1-7 ESV)

            When Thanksgiving approaches, most people list things they are thankful about – possessions, profession, and physical condition. There is nothing wrong with being glad for belongings, job, and health but have you considered the spirit of thanksgiving? I am not referencing a ghost as in Dickens’s Christmas Carol, but a frame of mind, a grateful outlook.

            The Apostle Paul challenged follower of Jesus to be “content in whatever circumstance.” Are you constantly giving thanks as you go through various situations?

            What occasionally slips into the soul and replaces a spirit of thanksgiving?

Spirit of intolerance

            Intolerance is often noticeable while driving. Across this great nation people use hand language while on the road. In the Dakotas, where there are very few cars, a smile and wave regularly comes from behind the windshields of passing vehicles. In Chicagoland, where there are massive numbers of vehicles, an occasional frown and clench fist is more commonplace, or a worse form of visual expression (you can figure out what worse means).

            I learned a new definition for the words split second shortly after moving to Chicagoland. A split second is the time between a traffic light turning green and someone behind you honking their horn.

            Intolerance is also seen while shopping. Some clerks, to the detriment of the store, act as if they are doing you a favor helping you, their facial expression showing inconvenience and discuss. Sometimes sarcasm rises within me, rattles within my mouth, and wants to come out. Should I apologize for interrupting them from stacking sweaters so I can purchase one? A sarcastic remark would not improve their actions.

            Equally sad are customers treating clerks as second class citizens, not worthy of civility and good manners, even while shopping for the holiday promoting goodwill and joy.

            Intolerance of others is everywhere. How do you look, speak, or act toward others?

Spirit of hopelessness

            With the amount of stress people carry, depression is a chronic problem. Professional therapy is reaching new heights. Pastor counseling calendars are filled. Unfortunately many people base happiness on happenings, and life is not happening the way they want.

            Some give suicide serious consideration, a permanent solution to a temporary problem. The epidemic is impacting every age group – teens, young adult, middle age, elderly. The seeming hopelessness of the world is terrorizing the minds of many.

Spirit of indifference

            An “I don’t care” attitude (a defense mechanism, a form of self-protection and self-preservation) is regularly seen in people’s behavior, giving testimony of a deficiency in genuine community. Focus is more on self, on self-esteem and self-worth, with little regard for those sharing life with them. Yet every personal action and attitude toward others affects you, even the action of indifference.

            Many may be thankful for things but are not generally thankful. Intolerance, hopelessness and indifference indicate the spirit of thanksgiving is missing. Yet only out of a grateful heart does life have meaning.

Studies of thanksgiving

            Jesus is the Author of thanksgiving. On the night He was betrayed, He took bread and gave thanks. With foreknowledge of his sacrificial death He was thankful, not for the cross but for the love of the Heavenly Father.

            The pilgrims conducted the first American thanksgiving celebration. They lost 47 people the previous winter, one-half of the original number. Thirteen out of eighteen wives died. Three children died. Only three families remained unbroken. The first harvest was meager. Yet they hosted a thanksgiving celebration. They were not thankful on account of circumstances. They were grateful for being a colony under God in a new land and glad for the newfound freedom to express faith in Him.

            President Abraham Lincoln founded the first national day of Thanksgiving. Elton Trueblood wrote Abraham Lincoln: Theologian of American Anguish and commented that Lincoln never saw the Southern States as an enemy but as disillusioned and disgruntled members of the Union. They could reject him as President but he would not reject them. He did not perceive himself the leader of the North but as one placed under God to work toward the preservation of the nation. The focus of the proclamation for a day of thanksgiving, held the fourth Thursday of November, was not for the North to win but for restoration.

Thanksgiving

            You are a specially created component of a great mosaic, designed by God. Your life is part of a master plan and every situation you face contributes to His finished portrait. Be thankful for all the circumstances completing the picture.

            I graduated from high school when only 17 years old. Shortly afterwards I had to either enlist or become drafted into the Arm Forces. I entered the Air Force at age 18. Eight months later I was stationed in an Asian country on the other side of the International Dateline. The only communication to home was by letters sent by mail. No other form of contact existed, such as quick and easy phone service, emails, Skype, or Face Time.

            My Thanksgiving meal was in the Chow Hall with a couple of guys I had only met a couple months earlier, one from Philadelphia and the other from Detroit. The foods and conversations were very different than back home in Seattle. Television only offered extremely old reruns, not football.

            December 25 was just a day on the calendar. In order for the kitchen crew to have time off for Christmas the Chow Hall served leftovers. The special Yuletide meal was served a couple days earlier. Airman spent the day sitting in the barracks doing nothing.

            Very early in life I came to realize contentment and joy needed to come from something or someone more constant and sure than circumstances and things. Only Jesus is unchanging – the same yesterday, today and forever. Only He can completely satisfy the human condition.

            If on Thursday you are fortunate to be with family then have a great time. But if on Thursday you have to be alone, or work, then do not let that deter you from having a grateful heart and joyful countenance.

            Go ahead and list things that make you thankful if you want. Yet the things of the world will pass away and are unimportant. Take on a spirit of thanksgiving that transcends today and enters eternity.

            Have a blessed Thanksgiving Day. Why not make it a yearlong observance?