In Preparation for Thanksgiving

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  ~1 Thessalonians 5:18

Next week many in America will celebrate Thanksgiving. Other countries observe similar holidays, which are shaped by their own histories. As we look ahead to the gatherings which will soon take place, it’s fitting for us to pause and consider just how much we have for which to be thankful. 

We live in a world where tragedy and fallenness are positioned to dominate our attention and rob God of our gratitude. The negative 24-hour news cycle fuels our anxiety and cynicism and often obscures the beauty and providence that ought to elicit thanksgiving. But Scripture would remind us that God’s mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:23) and that all things come to us through His Fatherly hand (James 1:17). 

There’s a beautiful poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) called ”Thanksgiving” that captures for us the wonderful thanksgiving-worthy realities that exist all around us. Consider the opening stanza: 

We walk on starry fields of white
   And do not see the daisies;
For blessings common in our sight
   We rarely offer praises.
We sigh for some supreme delight
   To crown our lives with splendor,
And quite ignore our daily store
   Of pleasures sweet and tender.

What a beautiful reminder of the blessings all around us — what Wilcox calls “common in our sight.” Have we lost the ability to see blessing and beauty and wonder in daily life because they are common? Are we only able to give thanks for “supreme delights,” as if the daily mercies of God have lost their luster?

The second stanza says:

Our cares are bold and push their way
   Upon our thought and feeling.
They hand about us all the day,
   Our time from pleasure stealing.
So unobtrusive many a joy
   We pass by and forget it,
But worry strives to own our lives,
   And conquers if we let it.

Wilcox attributes our inability to find joy in our daily lives to our own hurried and frenetic existence. All our cares and worries steal away our thanksgiving. Our inability to give thanks for small things can be attributed to our poor stewardship of time and inability to pause to enjoy the pleasures which God has given.  

The poem closes with this stanza, which draws our attention to the need to give thanks in every moment:   

We ought to make the moments notes
   Of happy, glad Thanksgiving;
The hours and days a silent phrase
   Of music we are living.
And so the theme should swell and grow
   As weeks and months pass o’er us,
And rise sublime at this good time,
   A grand Thanksgiving chorus.   

Let’s mark each hour with glad thanksgiving. Let’s observe in every day the moments of happiness with which God has blessed us. Let’s prepare our hearts for this upcoming celebration by letting the theme of Thanksgiving be like a chorus in our daily lives, so on that once-a-year holiday our hearts will be tuned to sing the song of gratitude from a year’s worth of rehearsal.

Rev. Kyle Lockhart, Pastor