WHAT DO WE DO WHEN WE'RE THANKFUL?

Dr. Richard J. Henderson November 22, 2009

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Luke 17:11-19
Psalm 95:1-7

Introduction

Everyone has something to be thankful for. If you asked just about anyone if they had something to be thankful for every hand would go up. Some may need to think about it for a second, but just about everyone has something for which they are thankful. This includes the new parents as well as the man battling cancer, the couple whose daughter was accepted into an Ivy League school, a family on the brink of bankruptcy, the couple celebrating their sixtieth wedding anniversary, and the widow who just lost her husband.

Even in the most dire situations we still have much to be thankful for.

More specifically we are thankful to God. That's one of the great things about believing; we have someone to thank. We realize that the world we live in didn't come out of nowhere and we appreciate the beauty of a new day every morning. Most of us are thankful for the hope we have, the hope that we can be forgiven, that it matters what we do with our lives, that death is not the end. We are thankful to God.

I

What do we do when we are thankful? Most of us respond in some way. Because we are thankful, we react through how we feel and what we do. When we are grateful, it makes a difference to us and other people.

II

First of all we recognize that we have something to be thankful for. We say to ourselves, "I am so blessed." How often have you stopped to say, "Look at how fortunate I am?" We recognize it all the time.

Not everyone realizes what they have. Some people don't express gratitude because they take for granted what they have been given. Maybe they assume it will always be there. They are the people about whom we say, "They don't realize how fortunate they are."

Part of the trouble is that people don't see what they have; they see much more clearly what they don't have. These tend to be the people who manipulate to get more and more. Imagine if Bernie Madoff had been thankful for all he had, content with the wealth he had accumulated and the high positions he held. What a different life it would have been for him if, before he started his ponzi scheme, he had said, "I'm grateful for what I have; it's more than enough." If he had been grateful rather than greedy, a great many people would have been better off, including him.

The first step in thankfulness is realizing that we have a great deal to give thanks for. Someone sends flowers at a very difficult time in our lives. We stop to realize, "They didn't have to do that." Or someone helps you through a tough spot, and you pause to say, "What a kind thing to do." Maybe you are reminded of how fortunate you are to have married the person you did. You stop and remember how lucky you are, and it isn't even your anniversary! Thankfulness begins with recognizing the many ways in which we have been blessed.

III

When we are thankful, we express that thanks. We acknowledge the goodness we have received. Sometimes it is as simple as sending a thank you note for the flowers you got. If it is more important or more intimate, we make a call: "I'm just calling to thank you for a fun time last night. Your friendship means a lot to us." If we are feeling profound thanks, we often want to acknowledge it face-to-face: "I wanted to talk with you to tell you how much your support has meant to me. I don't know how I would have gotten through all this without your help. Thank you."

When we are thankful to God, we express it all the time. Maybe we give thanks every new morning as we look out at the world. But, as in other aspects of life, we are especially thankful at particular times. You look at your kids and remember what it was like for you as a child. You are suddenly thankful for the faithfulness of your parents: the way they cared for you, taught you, demonstrated what it is to be Christian, took you to church (sometimes dragged you to church!). You are thankful for the way in which God moved in their lives, and in yours.

Or maybe your childhood wasn't like that at all, and you are thankful that you are providing a better, more faithful, home for your family.

It seems natural to express the thankfulness we feel.

IV

When we're thankful, we often return the favor. We were in a restaurant one time, and when we asked for the bill, the waiter told us, "Another family paid the bill for you." We looked up to see one of the church families leaving with big smiles on their faces. A couple of months later we saw the same family in a different restaurant. Before we left, we paid the bill for them and we left with smiles on our faces.

When we're thankful, we like to repay what has been given to us. It is a way to return kindness with kindness. It's a way of being thankful.

In the same way, when you're grateful for a strong friendship you have, you try to be a good friend in return. When you value your friends, you want to be a friend.

When we are thankful to God, we try to be more faithful to God. Appreciating what God has done for us, we try to be the people God wants us to be. Being grateful to God encourages us to be true to God.

V

But sometimes with friends, and usually with God, we can't pay back what we've received. Sometimes there's no way to keep things equal. You're having surgery, and a friend sets up child care for you, sits at the hospital during the surgery, and then organizes meals to be brought in after you get home. Since that person isn't going to have surgery, you can't do the same for them. You can't pay it back.

But you can pay it forward. You can offer your help to someone else who needs it. You aren't able to return the kindness to the one who helped you, but you can offer the same spirit of caring to other people.

A woman's father died, and her church provided the funeral service and a lunch afterwards so that family and friends could talk and support each other. The woman was so grateful for the care the church had given her that she signed up to be on the committee that provided those lunches. She didn't pay it back, she paid it forward.

Because we are thankful for the blessings of God, we can be a blessing to other people. A successful business man gets a year-end bonus, and out of gratefulness for the benefit he has received, he gives a significant portion of that bonus to a homeless shelter. It is the action of thanks.

Conclusion

This isn't a one to one exchange - item for item. It isn't that this was done for me, so I will do that for someone else. Our gratitude to God is reflected in the way we live. It draws us to a life of compassion, fairness, selflessness, and hope.

It meant so much to a woman that her friend sat with her through all of her chemo treatments. When she was done, she signed up to be a Stephen Minister. "I felt God's presence through the presence of my friend. Now maybe someone else will be able to feel that presence through me."

We can't repay the good gifts we have received, especially the ones from God. But out of our thankfulness we can live the lives Jesus called us to live. Gratitude is more that just a feeling, or even words. When we are thankful it affects our whole lives.

Amen

© Richard J. Henderson 2009