A Thanksgiving Attitude

Tom Barnard

n the past week I have received a dozen or more email greeting cards wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving. How grateful I am for those who have taken the time to do this for me as well as for other friends and family. I thank you for including my name on your list for this act of kindness. I almost feel like I have been in the audience of Oprah’s annual “My Favorite Things” program. But not quite. I won’t be the recipient of a new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle next year, like everyone in her live television audience on Monday was promised.

You have reminded me that “Thanksgiving” is not a day or part of a weekend that we set aside each year to be thankful. It is more than watching professional football teams play in a dome near Detroit. It is more than an annual celebration. It is more than a gathering of friends and family to eat a bountiful meal of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, cranberry salad, and a variety of pies. It is much more than the day before “Black Friday”—the largest single day of shopping in America from coast to coast.

Thanksgiving is an Attitude!

We all know people who have an “attitude.” A Thanksgiving Attitude is not that kind of attitude. It is an attitude whose beginning came from the heart of God. It didn’t just happen at Plymouth with the arrival of the Pilgrims. I have seen “The Rock” in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The “Rock” is not the symbol for Thanksgiving. The turkey is not the symbol either. In fact, nothing physical is a symbol of Thanksgiving. A Thanksgiving Attitude is a thing of the heart. From God’s heart to our hearts, and from there to hearts of friends and family. Our ultimate Thanksgiving Attitude is the gratefulness we show to God.

The Bible calls us to have hearts of thanksgiving. To the Church at Thessalonica the Apostle Paul wrote, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). In everything? That’s what he said—everything! Does that mean the down times? The hard times? The sick times? The painful times? The lonely times? The complicated times? Does it mean that we should give thanks for the times when death visits our homes? That’s what he said—in everything! The Apostle James underscored this when he wrote, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2, 3). How about a little less “being perfect” and a whole lot less trials? Nope. That’s not the way it works.

Again, in his letter to the Christians at Rome Paul wrote, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3, 4). How about a little less tribulation, even if it means a little less hope? Nope. That’s not how it works either. Here is a Thanksgiving prayer that you might want to voice sometime this week:

O Thou, whose bounty fills my cup

With every blessing meet!

I give Thee thanks for every drop—

The bitter and the sweet.

I praise Thee for the desert road,

And for the riverside;

For all Thy goodness hath bestowed,

And all Thy grace denied.

Jane Crewdson