Recent Posts:
A Thanksgiving message from guest blogger,
Willow Brook Chaplain Adam Metz
By most accounts, my parents were pretty laid back compared to other parents. They didn’t make us keep our rooms clean (as long as they didn’t smell too bad and there wasn’t anything growing on the floors), they hardly ever made us finish the food on our dinner plates, and our chores were always pretty minimal (sweep the floors; put the dishes away). However, there was one glaring exception: anytime someone did something for us or gave us a gift my mom would insist we write a thank you note. As a kid, this was really annoying. No one else’s parents made their kids do that! I had television that needed watching and toys that needed played with! Despite our cries of objection, mom would make sure that we always passed along some little note of gratitude.
My parents had a good reason to insist on this practice: I have always found that it was easier to spend time thinking about all the things that I wanted but didn’t have, than it was to be grateful for all the things that I did have. I don’t consider myself to be especially materialistic. I’m pretty content with three meals a day, a roof over my head, and a little left over at the end of the month. At the same time, it is hard not to get caught up wanting the next big thing. Our televisions constantly invite us to imagine how much better our lives would be if we drove some new car, drank some new beverage, or bought some new phone. The insatiable heartbeat of our economy pushes us to buy more, consume more, and want more. The more, more, more can leave our heads spinning and our hearts empty.
More is the opposite of enough. Not only did my mom and dad want to make sure that we had enough, they wanted to make sure that we knew that we had enough – really, more than enough. They did this not to guilt us or hold something over our heads, but to cultivate gratitude within us. Gratitude is the antidote to envy, and envy is a violation of the tenth commandment.
One of my favorite hymns I remember singing in church growing up is “Count Your Many Blessings.” The opening line of the hymn says, “Count your many blessings; name them one by one.” This is as good a time as any for us to name our blessings one by one. There are so many! If our heart is full of gratitude there isn’t any room left for negativity, discontent, or envy. May the words of Psalm 100 help guide you as you name your blessings one by one and remember that “every good and perfect gift comes from above” (James 1:17).
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Happy Thanksgiving!