A Thanksgiving Reflection

I love Thanksgiving. I love the idea of taking a day to put more emphasis on being thankful. We have so much to be thankful for, especially here in the States. It saddens my heart to see how people so often rush past Thanksgiving and make a day that's mostly about satisfying your flesh. First people gorge themselves on a plethora of food. And then they try to gorge themselves with more stuff by trampling other human beings in a line just to get a sale on a thing. It's so important to take time to be thankful for everything we have. But instead people turn Thanksgiving into a time of trying to get more stuff.

On the flip side, I think we as people have a bad habit of trying to sugar coat things on Thanksgiving. We name all the things we're thankful for that are easy to be thankful for. "I'm thankful for my house and my education and a free country..." and so on. We try to ignore all of the bad parts of our lives on Thanksgiving so we can highlight and be thankful for all the good stuff. But when was the last time we thanked God for the bad stuff too? True thankfulness is not just praising God for the good stuff, but for the struggles and hard things to be thankful for too.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances. For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

We are called not just to be thankful for the easy things the thank God for. We are called to thank God for the hard things too. When we're living in God's will, trusting that he turns even trials into blessings, then we can give thanks in all circumstances and thank him for the hard things too.

I'm reminded of the old hymn "It Is Well" which says, "When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well, with my soul." This song is a reminder that life is filled with both good and bad times. But with the God of the universe on our sides we are able to give thanks in all the hard times too because through peace he gives it can be well with our souls.

I'm thankful for my family even though they drive me crazy. I'm thankful for an education even though it costs a lot of money. I'm thankful for my car even though it has some problems. I'm thankful for the finances I do have even though it isn't much. I'm thankful for the hard times I go through because I know God uses them to make me stronger and more mature and closer to him.

So this Thanksgiving, my challenge to you is stop sugarcoating. Stop focusing on only the good stuff and thank God for some of the tough things too. He is able to turn the hard stuff into even bigger blessings than he good stuff. This Thanksgiving, dare to be thankful in all circumstances.