I am sitting in my warm dry study, surrounded by books and working using a reasonably new lap-top. Outside my window a Blue-tit is feeding at the containers of bird food I have hung there, and even though it is November the weather is good enough today for me to have laundry hanging out on the line. Although it is the end of my pay quarter we have plenty of food in the cupboards and fuel in the car and even some money in the bank. I am well provided for and have no fear for my life or health, and for all of this I am thankful.
As I consider all of this I am pondering whether it is enough simply to be thankful, or even whether thankfulness as a feeling is inadequate, and that it should be translated into an action if it is going to be at all meaningful. Across the pond my American friends are celebrating Thanksgiving today, many of them have got together with friends and family to share a meal and to relax together, and that is good, others may be taking part in a community event choosing to celebrate with folk who are homeless or in need in some way.
I have written about my experience of Thanksgiving in Texas here, and believe that it is a very positive holiday, and I am not a kill-joy regarding family and community celebrations, I love them! BUT I believe that to live our lives in an attitude of thanksgiving requires something far deeper than a celebration, and a commitment that is not based on warm feelings because sometimes thanksgiving is tough!
I am challenged by Paul's instruction to the Thessalonians: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Challenged because it calls forth a real and active response from me that demands something more than empty words. It asks me to be aware of God in and through all circumstances, and it calls me to make a positive response, a response of thanksgiving, and it may be that that thanksgiving is no more than a real awareness that I am able to respond in prayer.
The Psalms are great examples of prayer in the tough times, so often even when the Psalmist begins by pouring out his complaint he ends it with thanksgiving and praise; these two things pour out it seems when the Psalmist acknowledges the ultimate rule of God in his life, and that although it may not seem like it in the present moment, but there will come a time when all will be well.
Thanksgiving is made possible for me in the tough times if and when I focus on something beyond myself, and on others... but I am also aware that this too is a luxury, and again that I am not caught up in a hopeless situation, nor am I helpless. Others are not so fortunate, neither are they less human, and this should spur me on to share what I have both materially and spiritually ( no matter how small my offering seems)...
As I ponder the concept of thanksgiving then I am challenged to make it a daily discipline of prayerful thanks and active living and being....
