November. It’s a lovely month. The weather is wonderful. Families get together. The holiday season begins and we gather collectively around each other and the theme of thanksgiving.
But the beauty of gratitude is that it doesn’t have to end when Thanksgiving passes. Gratitude can become a part of our daily lives and change us down to our very core, if we will allow it.
Years ago I read the book, 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp. The message of her story and her book struck me.
Open hands and grateful hearts. Could I live with my hands held open before God?
Would I really be willing to accept His will for my life? Would I be able to thank Him for the hard things? The holy things? The heavy things? Surely this message couldn’t be true?!?
We thank God for the good things, and we blame Satan for the bad things. That’s how this gratitude thing works. I don’t have to thank God for everything, do I?
Then Jesus. Jesus does the thing. He give thanks. All the thanks for all the things.
He blesses the fish and the loaves a young boy offers up with gratitude then He breaks it and multiplies it.
Gratitude before the breaking. Brokenness before the bounty.
Oh.
Jesus does it again.
At the table, with the twelve. Breaking bread, drinking wine, blessing the meal. We see Him give thanks for what’s ahead. The sacrifice. The service. The surrender of Himself for us.
Over and over I turned the pages of my Bible and I found men and women praising God out of their brokenness. Out of their lack. Out of their need they cried out in gratitude and God moves.
Gratitude isn’t meant for just when we have abundance. It’s meant to be practiced in all seasons, in all situations and for all things.
For everything God gives us, but also for everything God is.
He is our reason for gratitude. He is our gift. The only gift we ever need.
So this November, as we take out the holiday lights, make our lists, invite our families over, let’s take time to live in the gratitude we are called to live in. Giving thanks in all things, for all things.
