It’s almost Thanksgiving so that means the stores are playing Christmas music, your mailbox is being flooded by Black Friday ads, and your Facebook feed is blowing up with all the holiday overachievers announcing to the world, “Hey! I just put up my Christmas tree!”
Whatever. I just washed a load of laundry.
Before we go crazy over Christmas, let’s think about what it means to be thankful. A very wise man once said, “Give thanks in all circumstances . . .”[1] Notice the preposition. He did not say, “Give thanks for all circumstances.” The difference between for and in is important for us to get.
Gratitude is not shaped by our circumstances. Gratitude is shaped by what we focus on in the midst of our circumstances. That means it’s possible to be thankful even in the midst of terrible events. Gratitude is something that comes from inside of us, not something that depends on life dealing us the right cards.
Dr. Robin Sterns of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence says, “. . . gratitude is not just a feeling outside your control that arrives willy-nilly. It’s more like a radio channel: you can choose at any time to tune in.”[2] That’s why the simple imperative, “Give thanks,” works, because at its root, gratitude is a choice. And just like we change the channel on the TV, we can make a choice to change the channel from negativity to gratitude.
Here’s the rest of the statement, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Gratitude is God’s will for your life. It’s what God wants for you. There are probably many reasons for this, but one obvious reason is that gratitude is good for you. Here’s Dr. Sterns again:
“More than any other personality trait, gratitude is strongly linked to mental health and life satisfaction. Grateful people experience more joy, love, and enthusiasm.”[3]
If you’re unhappy with your life, check your gratitude bucket. Even if nothing changes in your life, the way you feel about it can change when you find something to be genuinely thankful for.
Gratitude is not only good for you. It’s good for everyone around you. A thankful person has the same effect on their spiritual and social environment that a huge carbon-sucking forest has on the natural environment. Gratitude has a way of eliminating the pollution caused by bad attitudes like bitterness, envy and greed. So, find something to be thankful for. If not for yourself, do it for the rest of us.
I don’t know what your circumstances are this Thanksgiving, but I know this:
When we can’t thank God for our circumstances, we can still thank him in our circumstances.
“Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Psalm 106:1
[1] Paul, the Apostle, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)
[2] Robin Sterns, “Gratitude Practice Explained” http://ei.yale.edu/what-is-gratitude/ Accessed 11-19-15.
[3] Ibid.
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