ThanksLiving: A Thanksgiving Reading PlanMuestra

A life marked by continued thanksgiving will include thanksfeeling and thankssaying.

Thanksfeeling

One dictionary describes thanksgiving as a “happy emotion, a gladness to have what is given.” Cultivate a glad feeling of thanks toward the Giver. A critical or complaining spirit will hardly accompany feelings of gratitude.

Remember the “thankful” Pharisee who used the right verbal formula and thought he had done all the right things (Luke 18:11-12)? His feelings of self-righteousness and self-congratulation left no room for true gratitude. There was pride rather than gladness in his heart.

True thanksfeeling means you like the gift you receive and the person who gave it to you. You are grateful for both. If you like the gift but not the giver, then you can’t be grateful. Further, if the giver gives the gift out of debt or duty to you, then true feelings of gratitude will not emerge. Instead, you would be relieved that a debt was repaid, but there would be no appreciation for unmerited favors.

Thankssaying

I once saw a Family Circus cartoon strip in which the mother encouraged her son: “Instead of always asking for things in your prayers, remember to say an occasional Thank You prayer.” The son asked, “What should I say thank you for?” She replied: “For your family, for our good health, for this house, the fun we have, for your school, all your friends…” In the next frame, the son walked back to his room, got on his knees, and prayed, “Thanks, God, for everything mom said.” He left out the details.

Our feelings of thanks are better expressed by saying thanks. The book of Psalms features many psalms in the Praise and Thanksgiving genres. “It is good to give thanks to the LORD,” opens Psalm 92, an individual psalm of thanksgiving in a public setting. The psalmist clarifies the virtue of public thanksgiving (really thankssaying). We say thanks to God in public because God is good, but also because thanksgiving in itself is good.