thanks: n. An expression of gratitude. Grateful feelings or thoughts.
Quietly minding my own business while ironing a pair of pants for a client, the thought entered and settled in, probably through the back door of my mind, before I had a chance to put up my guard."I don't think that's a good idea," I countered, "I'm not going to lay myself out like that," knowing full well there was no way to sweep it under the rug, pretending it wasn't there. Once an idea is given to me it becomes the elephant in the room--It will be addressed and dealt with.
November and Thanksgiving is months away, the typical time of the year when thanks are garnered and verbally expressed. How atypical is it to initiate an awareness of gratitude when the new year has only just begun? I do march to the beat of my own drum.
The courtroom was empty except for those involved in the trial--the lawyers, defendant, witnesses, judge, and other officials. Empty, that is, except for me and the minister from the church in a small coastal town the defendant had attended as a youth. There were no other friends or family members in support of the one on trial. I had been the recipient of his one phone call when he was arrested.
The evidence was overwhelming. There was no reason to believe he would not be found guilty and sentenced to serve time. The only question was where and how long.
"Guilty" was the pronouncement. In my mind I heard, "In everything give thanks for this is the will of God." Unfamiliar with the words, I searched after getting back home and discovered its source in scripture. A new concept was planted that day. A young man was heading for a correctional institute, and the charge was to "give thanks."
We stayed in touch during his time in correction, writing and visiting. He made a decision while there--that he would never be incarcerated ever again. And he hasn't been. He and his wife own their own truck, hauling all over the country. He is a successful businessman, an asset to society and his family. His life took a turn, a turn for the good, on that fateful day. Unseen though it was, it was a reason to be thankful.
The very nature of giving thanks is for there to be a recipient. So often, being thankful is not unlike blowing up a helium balloon, attaching a tag to it, and letting it go up into the sky where it eventually fades away. It is important that thanks be given to God, the person, the source of all things--one on one.
And this is where the original thought enters in--I am to post a daily thanks, something I have expressed to God in my daily life and share it with you. Who will join me in this exercise? I am not asking you to comment but, rather, take the time in your own life at some point during each day, consider what you are thankful for, and give thanks to God.
The caveat is "everything." It is quite easy to thank God for all of the "feel good" things in life; He is asking that I thank Him for and in everything. This much I know: All things are at the hand of God, and in that I can give thanks. A young man, having been found guilty of a crime and sentenced to serve time in a correction facility, satisfies that requirement.
And so the elephant in the room has been dealt with.
We shall all watch and see where this leads.
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." I Thessalonians 5:18
2 comments:
Giving serious consideration to the challenge to post daily thanks. Your daily posts have often blessed my day.
Positive begets positive; negative begets negative. There are many who never even consider that all we have been given comes from above. And that there is a point and purpose to everything.
I have a dear friend who lost her husband during this last year. She states that an attitude of gratitude is what has allowed her to keep going--one step at a time.
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