The Heart Of Thanksgiving

Next Thursday is one of America’s favorite holidays. For most Americans, Thanksgiving is a time to share a wonderful meal with relatives who travel to be together at this special time of year. Historically, Thanksgiving is a time of reflection upon our God, who has so graciously and faithfully provided for our lives. It is a time to recognize the blessings He has bountifully provided to us. As we reflect upon the goodness of God to such undeserving people as ourselves, we are led to understand that all that we have is in some way a gift from God.

Our breath, our heartbeat, our circulation, our digestion, our body’s waste disposal system, all of these body functions are kept functioning by the kindness of God. Our ability to work, to earn money, or to have a place to live and food to eat, are also all provided by God’s kindness to us. The ability to relate to our friends and family members in loving ways is a skill made possible by God, who placed that relational capability within our human nature.

So what is Thanksgiving to you? Is it stuffing yourself with a bounty of turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, vegetables, and three kinds of pie? Is it catching up with relatives? Is it the annual barrage of college and professional football games from 10 in the morning till 10 at night? Or is it the day you spend mapping out your shopping strategy for taking advantage of the shopping specials on the next day?

I am not saying that any of these things are wrong. These are all elements of most Americans’ Thanksgiving Day celebrations. But in the midst of all of these things, there seems to be a missing ingredient. Thanksgiving is not just about delighting in the things we have; it is acknowledging with gratefulness the Source of those things and blessings. Thus, thanksgiving requires expressing thanks to the Supplier, and not just gratitude for the supplies.

We must always be careful not to let the things we have become more important than the One who gives us those things. Lifting our eyes to God and expressing our appreciation and gratitude to Him helps put our lives back into proper focus. The focus of Thanksgiving Day should be spending some time thanking God, the giver of all the gifts and blessings we have, for providing for us. If we don’t consciously make an effort to thank God for our provisions, then the Provider becomes eclipsed by the provisions.

Psalm 145 can help us focus upon the core of thanksgiving. The first part of verse 7 gets to the heart of Thanksgiving by saying, “Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness” (NLT). What would be in your “story” this year that would tell others of God’s wonderful goodness towards you? How would sharing and listening to one another’s stories about God’s demonstrated goodness, enhance the spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving this holiday time?

The psalmist was thankful that the LORD was kind, gracious, full of mercy, and faithful in doing what He said that He would do. He was thankful that God helps those who fall, and lifts up those who are carrying a heavy load. We should be thankful that God helps us when we fall, instead of scolding us by saying “I told you so.” Isn’t it great to remember that when our load is heavy, God comes to our side, and walking along side us helps us carry the load to our destination? How has God been kind, or gracious, or merciful, or faithful to you this year? What heavy load has God helped you carry this last year? Have you thanked Him?

We should also be thankful that God gives food as we need it. We need to look to Him for our supplies, but as we do, He opens His hand and gives us graciously what we need for our lives (cf. verses 15-16). What do you need from God today? Look to God expectantly to meet your need, and express gratitude and praise when He does.

This year at Thanksgiving, in the midst of all the things for which we are thankful, let’s not forget to gratefully tell God “thank You” for being the One who makes all of this possible! Do you have stories of how God helped you this year, or blessed you? Why not share those with others at your holiday table this year? Have a blessed and meaningful Thanksgiving!

Roadrunners and Coyotes

Did you used to watch cartoons? Still do, huh? It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone. One of my favorite cartoon series was The Roadrunner. It was always so much fun to watch Wile E. Coyote roll a stone down a desert mountain in order to crush the roadrunner, only to find the stone rolling back up the hill and upon his own head. If he shot a stone out of a huge slingshot to try to hit the roadrunner, it would boomerang back onto himself. No matter what kind of destruction the coyote tried to hurl upon the roadrunner, it always returned upon his own head.

We used to go to an outdoor ice cream parlor in Bibone, Italy every summer. This parlor had a large covered, outdoor patio area with lots of tables and chairs. At one end of this area was a large screen television that played cartoons every evening. It was hard to get a table or seat in that area in the evening, because kids of all ages (3 to 90) would buy ice cream and sit around for hours watching the coyote pummel himself with the stones that he had sent to crush the roadrunner. People would laugh until there were tears running down their cheeks. It didn’t matter if they were Italian, German, Austrian, Dutch, Japanese, American, Hungarian, or Serbian, they all joined in the laughter. Why was that cartoon so funny?

I think that it was funny because it so well depicts human nature. Sometimes people throw stones at others in order to keep the attention and examination off of themselves. Sometimes they are vindictive and really want to hurt others. It seems that most humans secretly like to see those who purposely try to hurt others, get their just desserts in the end. There is a sense of justice, after all, in self-initiated retribution. It is even more ironic when the payback comes from the exact stones they threw or rolled attempting to hurt others.

I also like The Roadrunner cartoons for another reason. I like them because they so clearly illustrate one of my favorite proverbs in the Bible. Proverbs 26:27 (NLT) says: “If you set a trap for others, you will get caught in it yourself. If you roll a boulder down on others, it will roll back and crush you.” That truth is at the heart of every Roadrunner cartoon. When we try to set traps for others, they end up springing closed upon us; when we try to undermine others we end up undermining ourselves.

This coyote stone-throwing or stone-rolling theme is one of life’s ironies. A modern American-slang proverb restates this truth. That proverb says, “What goes around, comes around.” Those who give out good will receive back good; those who give out hurt will be hurt in return; and those who attempt to deceive will in the end be deceived.

This theme can be found in many places. One of my favorite Hungarian musical groups is a band named Republic. They sing a song that says something to the effect that whoever throws a stone into the sky will soon discover that the stone has to land somewhere, and it is usually on your own head.

Why are we so slow to learn this lesson? We can laugh at it when we see it portrayed in the actions of the coyote, and even gloat at the stupidity of the coyote. We ask, “How long will it take him to learn that the things we set into motion usually come back upon our own heads? Silly coyote, when will he learn?”

Silly humans, when will we ever learn? Our unkind words hurt others, but will also come back to hurt us. Our actions designed to hurt others, bring reciprocal pain upon us as well. Sabotaging others is in reality sabotaging ourselves. Undermining our country’s leaders, laws and systems hurts us all. We are quick to see the folly of such behavior in cartoon characters, and sometimes in the lives of others. But we are very slow to realize that all too often we are more like the coyote than we want to admit.

So the next time you are tempted to initiate something hurtful, think twice about it, and decide to set something good into motion instead of something hurtful. Others will be better off as a result of the good you send out, and so will you. Indeed, so will we all!