A number of years ago I acquired this cute little Thanksgiving knickknack. It looked great on the hall table, next to a rustic flower arrangement or a spice-scented candle. A perfect touch of autumn décor!
One day, in an all-too-common klutzy moment, I bumped into my pretty plaque. It fell to the floor, and the top portion broke off. When I picked it up and assessed the damage, its message read like a sick joke. Give thanks for my clumsiness? Be thankful that I just broke something I enjoy? Say thank you as I clean up a mess? Give thanks as I relegate a treasure to the trash?
Actually . . . yes, kind of. I’ve always been intrigued by a brief, concise command in the Bible: “In everything give thanks” (1 Thess. 5:16). Four simple words. A nice sentiment. Impossible to do though, right? Well, maybe my broken little sign could serve as a simple object lesson.
I decided to glue the plaque back together as best I could. You can see the iffy results of my repair job. It’s not pretty. But what could be more appropriate than a broken reminder to “Give Thanks”? Every year, when I display this damaged little decoration, I’m reminded that thanksgiving has little to do with perfection or beauty.
If we hold out for ideal situations, dreamy relationships, fattened bank accounts, healthy bodies, or good moods before we give thanks, we will likely become blinded by discontent. We won’t be able to see anything but the cracks and missing chunks of our lives. No matter how good things are, we’ll always find a “but” to dampen our gratitude.
However, when we learn to give thanks in (not necessarily for) everything, our vision improves. We become better and better at spotting the positives, the consolations, the blessings God bestows in the midst of trouble.
This month is a great time to exercise our thanks muscles. It will help inoculate us from the virus of whining that seems to be sickening our society of late.
“The brave who focus on all things good and all things beautiful and all things true, even in the small, who give thanks for it and discover joy even in the here and now, they are the change agents who bring fullest Light to all the world” (Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts).
Happy Broken Thanksgiving!
As I was laying in bed in the middle of the night, unable to sleep from the incredible pain in my knee I actually began to think that I was supposed to take something from the torture, you know, like there was a lesson to be learned. Know that the pain has subsided perhaps the only lesson I learned was that I wish I could write my own scripts already so that I could of had the corticosteroids a day or so earlier, but perhaps a deeper lesson will come to light eventually. I guess if nothing else, a couple days of intense pain makes one thankful for the times that are relatively pain free.
ReplyDeleteIf nothing else, every situation can remind us of those around the world, and throughout time, who have endured much; not that it makes anything better, but it helps us to become more understanding of others. I remember lying on the gravel with my broken ankle under me and the pain of getting up and walking up stairs and into an office. Although I wish I didn't have that memory, it has caused me to become more empathetic toward people who are in pain. Being thankful in everything can also be described as constantly being on the look-out for how we can learn something from each and every situation we get into.
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