Thanksgiving Day, 2012

Perhaps it's passé to do a Thanksgiving Day post about thanksgiving. I mean, everyone does it, don't they? We know how it works. You're thankful. Yadda, yadda, yadda. And, being somewhat of a latent nonconformist, I might agree. However, coming here at the tail end of the election results with so many dark portends and rising fears and concerns, I thought that perhaps thanksgiving at Thanksgiving would be just what the doctor ordered. You know: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Phil 4:6). I've let my request be made known to God. I think some thanksgiving is in order.

First, in all the standard lines about giving thanks, it is so often unsaid to whom you are grateful. "I'm grateful for ..." is all well and good, but atheists celebrate Thanksgiving Day as well as believers. They're just not grateful to the same provider. So let me say up front and without equivocation that what I'm grateful for I'm grateful to God for. So while I'm grateful for the income, for instance, that comes from my job, I recognize that it ultimately is provided by God. While I'm thankful for my wife who is kind and loving and gives me so much and does so much for me, I recognize that it is all ultimately provided by God.

I am, then, grateful for lots of the "ordinary" things. You know. Enough to eat, a comfortable place to live, the clothes on my back, a job, a great family, a good church, all that stuff. I have a very pleasant life and I am very thankful for it. It is, in fact, so "ordinary" that sometimes it's easy to forget to be grateful, so I acknowledge that, repent of that error, and once again thank God for all that He has so graciously provided in those things. In, oh, so many ways, God has been very, very good to me. Mine is an extraordinarily pleasant life.

Beyond the ordinary, however, I'm grateful for the "unusual". I'm grateful for the blood condition that requires constant medication and monitoring. I cannot be complacent. I cannot fail to pay attention to what I eat or do. It's a good thing, a "weakness" that is a gift from God to remind me to be always and utterly dependent on Him. Thank you, God.

I'm thankful that God has put Barry Obama back in the White House. Not because I expect pleasant things. Indeed, I don't. Not because it reflects well on my nation. Indeed, it doesn't. But I am grateful because in all situations God is in charge, God works all things after the counsel of His will, and God will always does good. That may mean comfort or judgment. It will mean what's best.

I'm grateful primarily for my God Himself. Good times or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, blessings or problems, I can always be confident that He will do what's right. There is always purpose and always good in God's works and plans. When times don't look so good and circumstances look bleak, it's good to have a God I can trust. For that I am immensely grateful.