More than words we say…
(A devotional thought I wrote for the Lifeway Fiction Blog🙂
From the moment my kids were old enough to express themselves, my husband and I endeavored, as all parents must, to teach them to say “thank you.” Saying this is part of the code of conduct that we call “good manners,” and it’s expected of everyone on the planet. But it’s also something that we had to teach them. When one of my kids was given something and shy silence followed, I had to lean down— as a million other mothers have had to do— and whisper, “What do you say?”
We all know the answer to that four-word question, don’t we? It’s not, “Have a nice day,” or “Excellent choice!” or “Better luck next time.” The answer to “What do you say?” is always, “Thank you.” Expose a child often enough to situations where she is obligated to say thanks and eventually it will become ingrained. She will learn that gratitude doesn’t have oxygen unless it’s expressed.
As Thanksgiving approaches with the busy Christmas season already nipping at its heels, this time of concentrated gratitude can easily morph into just a yummy precursor to the rest of the holiday season.
Giving thanks, however, is as intentional – and as meaningful – as giving gifts. Thanksgiving is more than just a fabulous turkey dinner and college football and loved ones around the table eating pumpkin pie. Giving thanks is an act of parting with something. Thanks is something I give, not take. I don’t eat it. I don’t watch it. I don’t pass it around. I give it.
To give something is to offer something of value to someone; something that’s completely mine to give, and means something to me. Usually it means a sacrifice of some kind on my part, because giving something to someone is rather meaningless if the thing meant nothing to me.
Truly giving thanks is a sacrifice of praise to God for all that He has given us; the wonderful and the hard; the mysterious and the amazing; the abundance and the scarce. And if I’m truly to mean it, then I must consider that my gratitude to God has no oxygen unless it’s expressed.
This Thanksgiving, gather those whom you love and spend some moments sharing with each other what it means to give thanks. Not just say thanks, but truly give it, part with it, and offer it to God as a gift. It is in God’s nature to be generous with us. When we pause to offer words of gratitude back to God we breathe life into our relationship with Him each other, and we find ourselves changed by two simple words, “Thank you.”
“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT)