14. Will You Be 'Giving Thanks' on Thanksgiving?

"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." - Colossians 3:15-17

Fall semester has been a trying semester, and since it has been a semester spent getting acclimated to the college atmosphere, I have been swamped with new ideas, new forms of study habits, and the fact that this isn't high school with a test every week. I'm sure everyone one has only one thing on their minds right now. I'm ready for a break. Ever since our 2 days of fall break I have been anticipating getting to spend time with family over the Thanksgiving holidays. I've spent a little time trying to shift my focus to what Thanksgiving really is and how we should view it. 

I came upon the verse above when I was sitting in NT Bible class attempting to follow the lesson, but this verse caught my attention. It really encouraged me at that moment, and inspired me to write a few thoughts down about what I thought Thanksgiving really meant, and what it meant to me. If I were to take one theme from this verse, it would be, no matter what situation or struggles you may come by, always give thanks to God. Giving thanks to the Lord is one of the best ways to express our appreciation to God for His blessings and yet how many of us do it on a regular basis? Yes, we normally go through our routines of casually thanking God for our food before we eat, we  seldom even thank Him for the clothes we wear and praise Him for the sunshine. Around the Thanksgiving holiday we may even list out our blessings and reflect on what God has done, but to do we really "offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually"? Hebrews 13:15 states: "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name." 

Continually doesn't just mean once a year or even once a day for that matter. It implies that it is repeated without interruption. David said in Psalm 34:1, "...His praise shall continually be in my mouth." He also said, "At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments." (Psalm 119:62) When's the last time we found ourselves up at midnight thanking the Lord? Later on in that same psalm David says, "Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments." Do we stop seven times a day to thank God? Do we even stop once or twice to praise Him?

Now that we know that we need to thank God continually, how do we do it? If you think that all thanking God involves is sitting in a small group in a quiet place, whispering quiet praise songs--think again! Thanking/Praising God is an active thing. We are not to keep praising God to ourselves. We are to "...make known his deeds among the people." (Psalm 105:1) In other words if you receive a blessing--tell someone about it. If we are going to develop a lifestyle of praise to God continually, we need to put things in perspective. Realize who God is and who we are not. "Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture." (Psalm 100:3,4) We need to recognize that all of the blessings that come in our lives come not from ourselves, our hard work, or worldly coincidence/"luck", but from above.

If we can simply remember these truths when we fellowship with our family over the Thanksgiving meal and holidays, then we can truly bring the spirit of gratitude, thankfulness, and praise back to where it should be: "in the center of the table". I only hope that these ideas and truths will help to bring the true spirit of Thanksgiving back into your heart and that it will only help to make your Thanksgiving holiday the more enjoyable. May God be praised and may your spirit be lifted as we thank Him for all He has done in our lives. Remember to praise Him even in the storm, even when the rain falls, and even when you're life just couldn't get any better. God Bless, Dive Deep, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's a fun cartoon I found. Happy Thanksgiving!