Grace minus grades equal gratitude 

Thanksgiving was the first American holiday. A harvest feast was celebrated by Native Americans for centuries before Europeans first landed on these shores.

Their first menu was somewhat different from our Thanksgiving, I would presume. It included mostly meat: wild turkey, crane, duck, eagle, goose, seals, and swans. Their seafood included clams, cod, eel, and lobster.

They had no ham, no sweet potatoes or potatoes of any kind, no corn on the cob, and no cranberry sauce. Worst of all, pumpkin pie had not yet been invented.

From then to now, we have much for which to be thankful. Consider the prosperity of just the Baby Boomer generation. Per capita income in America since 1950, adjusted for inflation, has tripled. If you’re anywhere near my age, think about the home in which you lived as a child. Now compare it to your home today.

Yet with all our prosperity, are we happier people?

A brief glance at the day’s news may reveal otherwise, from reports of suicides to drug overdoses to the ramifications of our increasing depression and anxiety.

Why, when we have so much for which to be thankful from prosperity, are we not happier?

It’s because we need to learn a simple formula: Grace – Grades = Gratitude. 

This formula will lead us to Thanksgiving all year long and the joy of Jesus every day. It’s because we need something more than just prosperity to satisfy us. 

Your worth, your reason for Thanksgiving, can be the grace of God. It can be the fact that you are beloved by the Lord of the universe, that the Creator of all that exists is on your side, that you are the child of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

You can choose to celebrate the good news of grace. 

When we compare grace and grades, grace comes out on top and leads us to gratitude. 

Instead of reflecting on the hardest and worst times in your life, today simply reflects on the past week. How are your “grades” from this past week?

Now reflect on the day so far. How is your report card from today?  

Don’t let your grades steal your soul.  

It is impossible to live a perfect life, but Jesus has stepped in to overwhelm our imperfections with his grace. 

Meditate on that and thank God for his grace over our day-to-day mess-ups.