By Marianna Taylor, Involvement Minister for Leclaire Christian Church
During this holiday season, we celebrate "Thanksgiving." For many of us, that means that we get together with family and friends. We start meal preparation the night before, and work long into the night to get ready for the enormous feast that is at the heart of this holiday tradition. Our children may get up early to watch a parade on television. We continue slaving in the kitchen, and when the meal is finally ready, we call our families to the table. We pause briefly to thank God for the meal, and then we eat ourselves into a turkey-induced stupor. This usually takes less than 30 minutes. Then, it's time to clean up the disaster area that was once the kitchen. The men? It's time for them to watch football, of course! (Truthfully - would we really want them in the kitchen, anyway?) And the children? We're often relieved when they find some quiet way to occupy themselves - something that doesn't involve whining, fighting, crying, destruction of property, or serious physical injury.
Is this a typical "Thanksgiving" for your family? Do you find yourself totally exhausted at the end of this very long day? Perhaps you feel as if you've had very little time to be thankful about anything, except perhaps the fact that you've survived yet another family holiday celebration? Are you nodding your head in agreement right now? Muttering, "Uh-huh" under your breath? Me, too - I confess, I'm just as guilty as the next person! Girlfriends, we're really missing the point! We have allowed ourselves to be swept along in the path of this hollow tradition for way too long! Do you agree? Are you ready to pick up your flag, and march in protest? Okay! Well then, now what do we do?
First, we need a major "attitude adjustment." You see, gratitude is an attitude! What does that mean, really? Let's take just a moment to look at the definitions of some words that will help to answer that question. I used my handy dandy computer thesaurus and here's what I found:
• Attitude is a physical posture, either conscious or unconscious, especially while interacting with others.
• Gratitude is a feeling of being thankful to somebody for doing something.
• Thankful - feeling or expressing gratitude.
• Appreciation is a full understanding of the meaning and importance of something.
Let's combine all these words and concepts into a meaningful description of what an attitude of gratitude would look like, shall we? How about this: It is a conscious posture, or frame of mind, expressing gratitude or thankfulness to someone, with a full understanding of the meaning and importance of what they did or gave. Can you wrap your mind around that? It's a bit wordy, admittedly, but there are several nuances that add a much-needed depth.
• It is conscious - it's deliberate, it's intentional. We do it on purpose.
• It is expressed to someone - not something we merely think, and then forget, or keep to ourselves.
• It is something we've given thought to - we understand why we should be thankful.
Secondly, we need to examine all the reasons we have for being grateful, list them, and then meditate on them. (You fill in the blanks here!) If you need some help, perhaps you should get out your concordance and do a Bible study of all the times any form of the word "thanks" is used! Any idea how many? Aw, c'mon - take a guess! Okay - according to my best calculations, at least 150 times! If you looked at one of them each day, that would give you nearly five months to develop an attitude of gratitude!
Thirdly, we need to make our gratitude to God the centerpiece of our prayer lives. The Apostle Paul's writings are just oozing with his gratitude to God - look at the greetings to the churches in his letters to them. How often do you thank God for the people in your life? Your family? Friends? Co-workers? Church family? Not just your relationship with them, either! What about giving thanks for their spiritual growth? (Ephesians 1? Colossians 1?) Gratitude is so much more than thanking Him for what He's doing for us personally.
Finally, we need to encourage an attitude of gratitude in those we know and love. How well are we doing as role models? Do people see grateful hearts when they look at us? Do we take time each day to share our gratitude with those who are our nearest and dearest? Do we encourage them to do the same? Do we pray with our families regularly? When we do pray together, do we thank Him for more than just the food on the table?
Thanksgiving - may yours be more than a marathon of over-eating and football this year. Take time with your loved ones. Cultivate an attitude of gratitude at your house.
Marianna Taylor is the Involvement Minister at Leclaire Christian Church in Edwardsville, IL. Prior to serving at Leclaire, Marianna worked with Christian Homes, Inc., in Lincoln, Illinois - working in ministry with older adults for over 22 years. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Springfield, (formerly Sangamon State University), with a Master of Arts Degree in Gerontology, and a graduate of Lincoln Christian College in Lincoln, Illinois, with a Bachelor's Degree in World Missions.
Marianna has served as an adjunct faculty member at both Lincoln Christian College and Seminary and at UIS. She has spoken for a number of professional and church-related groups and has written articles for the Illinois Senior News and Times and the Christian Standard.