Take Your Thanksgiving To The Next Level

by Sylvia Gaston

By now, you’re probably having that leftover turkey sandwich or thinking about your workout plan for next week to counteract all those extra Thanksgiving calories you consumed this past week.

I’ve said it before. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. As with most holidays, it brings out the best in most people – kindness, generosity, brotherly love. But unlike other holidays, it’s not overly complicated. No gifts; no costumes; no fireworks; just two things I really love: FAMILY and FOOD!

 After all the cooking is done, it’s time to slooooow down, eat, relax, and enjoy each other - with some football thrown in for good measure. And immediately after begins the frenzy and furor of Christmas. (definition of furor: ‘an outbreak of public anger or excitement’) J

But the absolute best thing about Thanksgiving is . . . well, thanksgiving. The giving of thanks that we, actually and intentionally, make time for.  You see it all over social media beginning November 1^st. People decide to share what they are thankful for throughout the month.

For years, psychologists have been studying what happens when people are grateful. Researchers from Psychology Today have found that:

·      Gratitude improves physical and psychological health

·      Gratitude reduces aggression and enhances empathy

·      Grateful people sleep better

·      Gratitude improves self-esteem

·      Gratitude increases mental strength

·      Gratitude opens the door to more relationships

In a nutshell, being thankful makes us happier and healthier humans! I’m in!!

As a staff at Koinonia Church, my co-workers and I participated in the daily exercise of writing down 2 things we are truly thankful for. In fact, our lead pastor, Tim, challenged us to avoid the easy task of just writing down whatever pops into our mind. We were encouraged to really spend the time to contemplate all that God has done for us and to reflect on our blessings. (Do I have a great job or what?)

In Luke 17:11 of the Bible, we read an account of Jesus healing 10 lepers. These 10 ostracized men shout to Him because they are forbidden to interact with healthy people – even their own families. Jesus tells them to go and show themselves to the priests, who had the final say on whether they were actually healed and could re-enter society again. In complete faith, or maybe desperation, they begin walking to the priests before they even see the cleansing of their bodies. Along the way, their healing is completed. One of the 10 turns back to fall at Jesus’ feet and thank Him. Jesus replies, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? Rise and go, your faith has made you well.”

Here’s what I’ve realized. I need to appreciate more fully from Whom my blessings come. I can’t take credit for a job I love because God opened that door for me. I can’t take credit for even my skills or talents because those are also God-given. My family? My health? I see how God Himself has taken care of those as well. I see how He cared for me through recent struggles with health, family, and death. As I evaluate the small, but sweet details of my life, is there really anything that I hold dear that doesn’t come directly from Him?

The other thing I realize is how easy it is to be thankful for the obvious: health, family, home, job, and good friends. But, to dig deeper for the little things that we take for granted really ups the gratitude quotient, as well as the great benefits that come along for the ride.

If you think I’m saying that my life is without fault or defect, I’m not. God has not promised that if I follow Him, my life will be perfect. He only promises that He will see me through it until my time here is over and my time with Him begins. Can I ask for anything more or be any more grateful for that alone?

I’m happy to confirm that what God says in the Bible is true, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord.” – Psalm 92:1

Let’s continue the thanksgiving habit throughout Christmas and into the new year. It’s good for our soul and for our world.

Gratitude

by Andrew Cromwell

Just three days ago we celebrated a holiday which, for many, involved gathering with friends and family, eating oneself into a stupor and then crashing in front of the television. For some, the additional caloric intake was designed to prepare them for the exertion of racing down the aisles in search of the “best deals of the year” during the Black Friday frenzy. For others, the food was a drug designed to lessen the impact of being face to face with the family members seen once a year.

But of course, Thanksgiving is not about the food, although in my house it is an incredible excuse of it! And, it is most definitely not about the shopping, as much as our retailers try to convince us it is so. It is not even about family, although being with family, is most certainly a highlight of the holiday.

We all know this—Thanksgiving is about giving thanks. Many of us usually remember to take at least a moment and say thanks to God, and if not that, at least thanks to friends and family for being there. And if the holiday is only that, then it is certainly not wasted, but I would argue that it misses something of what it could be.

Thanksgiving is an opportunity to highlight an attitude that we should seek to carry continually in our lives, not just once a year. We should seek to carry this “attitude of gratitude” wherever we go.

The Jewish sages of old taught that it was impossible for an individual to be truly thankful to God without first being thankful for one’s immediate family. I believe that part of the reason they said this is because when it comes to God, He’s the one who is in the position of power and authority. We must be grateful to Him, anyone who is not, doesn’t understand that He could squash us all like ants!

Being thankful to someone who is powerful, is very easily lip service. We say thank you because we must. Like children who are taught to say “please” and “thank you” but say it because if they don’t they will get smacked, we often say thanks to God because He is the powerful One who is out there and we feel we must.

But to be thankful to those who are around you who are not powerful, those who rub you the wrong way and who you see at their worst, that is required for true thankfulness.  For then you are being grateful to people who you know are imperfect. And to be thankful to them, requires more than lip service. It requires an acknowledgement that you need the people around you for you cannot do it on your own. To say that to God is relatively pretty easy, to say that to your spouse sometimes is not.

But this is the way we are all supposed to live always, not just one day a year. Living in an attitude of continual thanksgiving, remembering that everything we have and everything we are is possible because of other people and because of God the Father.

But how quickly we forget.