Don't Worry, Be Thankful

For the fourth consecutive year, I present this blog post on Thanksgiving Day.

            Today is Thanksgiving Day.  It’s the one day we set aside to think about and be thankful for all we have in our lives.

            Giving thanks is certainly a Biblical concept.  We’re told many times that we should give praise and thanks to God, and there are lots of examples in the bible of people doing just that.  But did you ever wonder why?  Why is it that the Bible tells us we should be thankful to God?

            Well, it’s certainly not for God’s benefit.  God is not so vain as to need to hear our thanks and praise all the time.  God is also not so insecure as to need to know we appreciate all the things God has done for us.  We’re not told to give thanks for God’s benefit.  We’re told to give thanks for our benefit.  We need to be truly thankful to God for all that God has given us.

            There are a lot of reasons why it’s good for us to be thankful, but I think one of the main ones is that it helps us with what Jesus told us in Matthew, Chapter 6:  do not worry about tomorrow.  An attitude of worry is the opposite of an attitude of thankfulness.  Thankfulness looks at what is, and is grateful for it.  Worry looks at what is not, and is fearful of it.

            Worry robs us of any appreciation of the present.  Even if things are going well—in fact, even if things are going better than we could have imagined—we still cannot really enjoy them if we worry.  Rather than being grateful for how things are, we’re constantly thinking about all the things that could happen that would change everything and take everything away from us.  We cannot truly be happy when we worry.

            Thankfulness, the way the Bible intends us to feel it, takes away our worries. Remember, the Bible does not tell us to just be thankful when we get what we want. The Bible tells us to be thankful in all circumstances, the good and the bad.  I recognize that it’s not always easy to do that.  But when we can, we can get rid of our worries, because being thankful in all circumstances helps us recognize that God is present no matter what is happening in our lives.  It also helps us recognize that God will be present in the future, regardless of what that future may be.  In fact, God is already present in that future.

            None of us knows what the future may hold.  No matter what it holds, though, we can know that God has already provided for it and taken care of it.  For that, we can be truly thankful.

            Have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.