Sharing Thankfulness

I love Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is the holiday where Believer and non-believers alike, at least in our country, pause to consider all they have for which to be thankful. I'd like to believe that. I'm not so naive that I think everyone experiences a Norman Rockwell type of meal where all the family gathers around the table set with the best dishes and Grandpa carves the turkey while each person shares a heart-felt something. That would be nice but it's not the norm.

I asked my class of middle school aged kids at church if their families spoke of being thankful for things when sitting together over the holiday meal. Only one kid raised a hand. They others looked at me like that was a silly question. I remember seeing that look on my kid's faces when I would suggest we practice that tradition. It was considered corny, lame, embarrassing…I wish I had insisted. They were going to consider me corny, lame and embarrassing anyway, might as well inject some good habits along the way.

I gave my class a sheet with a scripture from 1 Corinthians 1:4-5... I always thank my God for you because of His grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in Him you have been enriched in every way – with all kinds of speech and with knowledge. I had them write on the page one thing they were thankful for in general and then one thing they were thankful for about each member of their immediate family. I'm happy to say it didn't seem to be a stretch for them and all started writing right away. I didn't have them share what they wrote with the class but their homework was to give it to their parents.

I asked a few questions: Who thanks your parents for your dinner each night? Who thanks parents for the roof over your head? Who thanks teachers for their time and effort to help you learn? There were more questions, more looks of "huh?" One of my goals for this class is that they learn to think about the world around them and not just their own self-serving issues. As an example of that, I used 'show & tell'. One kid said they were thankful for their pet. I stood my pen on end to represent the pet. I mentioned the need to be thankful for the parents that allowed the pet. Another pen standing. Then I mentioned being thankful for the job the parents had so the pet could be fed…another pen standing. I listed something connected to the pet until all pens around the table were standing on end to show how we need to consider ALL there is to gives thanks that relates to the pet. That visual showed them many reasons to be thankful they had never considered.

In the New International Version of the Bible, there are 48 references with the phrase "give thanks." If we look nothing else but that, we have 48 instructions written in the holy, God-inspired Word to give thanks. That alone should be enough to make the point. It's a daily instruction, not just a once a year issue! 

We, as parents, grandparents, and teachers need to lead by example. Children really do learn what they live and we need to make the Bible ordained instruction of "giving thanks" one of those important lessons. Whether you have your Thanksgiving meal on china or paper plates doesn't matter. Along with stuffing and pumpkin pie, make giving thanks a part of your family tradition. It's more than a pre-meal prayer; it's sharing your heart with those important to you. It's saying aloud that you know your life is blessed because they are a part of it. People need to hear it. God wants to hear it. We are, after all, told to enter His gates with praise and Thanksgiving!