Psalm 116
It is Thanksgiving Sunday and Thanksgiving weekend. I think most of you know that many will gather with family and friends for a meal and maybe to share a reason we are thankful. Have you ever thought about the word thankful? Thankful means to be full of thanks – to be full of gratitude or appreciation for something. We can be thankful for many reasons. Some people are thankful for stuff. They love their car or house or new toy. Some are thankful for circumstances. Life is going well or they have good health or fulfilling work or stimulating school or healthy relationships. Others may be thankful for people in their lives or some experience they just enjoyed. And we say “thank you” a lot out of courtesy. Are you full of thanks today?
We might think that depends on what’s going on in our lives at a particular time. But does it? Should it depend on that? Is it possible to be thankful even when we go through hard times, when life seems boring or when things are not going well? There was a man who went through a hard time in life. In fact he almost died. We don’t know exactly why he was in such a state. But we do know he survived to share a bit of his journey – its joys and its sorrows. He talks about thanksgiving. As we follow his story, I’d like you to watch for his heart and attitude in light of what he’s come through. I believe we can learn from his story about the possiblility of being thankful not only on Thanksgiving day but everyday even in hard times. We don’t know his name but we do have his writing.
