A Question to Make You Think

Many will remember hearing me talk about my Thankful Journal. I wrote about it here if you want to get the back story.

I have been writing in this journal for almost 3 years now. I started numbering the entries and have over 1800  now.  Things I’m thankful for. Things that made me smile and gave me joy.

Many families have a tradition on Thanksgiving to go around the table and offer something each one is thankful for.  Answers such as “good health,” or “my family” or ” a good job.” might be shared with those gathered.

We  teach our children to say “thank you” from an early age. Many a parent can be heard coaching their child to “say thank you,” in a variety of situations.

But there is something more than just being thankful. Just saying you are thankful for something is really not the whole story. You might find it easy to list the things you are thankful for. Some could be general and some very specific.  The problem is that perhaps we’ve forgotten who to thank.

You are thankful for your good health. Here is the question.

Who do you thank for that?

You are thankful for your children.  Who do you thank?

You are thankful that you had a job and the means to pay your bills this year.  Who is responsible for that? Who do you say thank you to?

During this Thanksgiving week, it’s good to think of the things you are thankful for. We certainly need to find some positive things to think about rather that what bombards us in the news every day. But your effort is really worthless if you just list a bunch of items and quit there.

The most important part of being thankful is knowing who gave you those things you appreciate so much.  It makes no sense to say you are thankful if you can’t find the right person to thank.

All those things are God’s doing.  He is the one you should thank. He is your loving Heavenly Father and has bought all those blessings into your life. So don’t just be thankful, thank HIM.

“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”  –James 1:17 (NASB)