Thanksgiving Sunday. Is it today or next Sunday? Next Sunday is part of the traditional Thanksgiving weekend. But during 40+ years of preaching ministry, I generally preached my Thanksgiving sermon the Sunday before Thanksgiving. By the Sunday after, most people have forgotten the holiday just past in favor of the holiday coming in less than a month. People are stuffed, satisfied, and shifted to the Christmas season. I hear and read fewer and fewer Thanksgiving sermons. Perhaps the Thanksgiving sermon is in danger of going the way of all flesh.
I find that fewer and fewer in our pews appreciate the purity and simplicity of the Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving is my favorite secular holiday. I like this time of year; I like the colors; I like the harvest and the finality of another year of gardening. Most of all, I like the religious foundations of the holiday. But Thanksgiving has changed during my lifetime. Although it is a time for family and friends, it seems less a day for giving thanks than in times past. Many of us eat well every day, and overstuff ourselves on Thanksgiving. For some, Thanksgiving is parades and football. For others, Thanksgiving is all about hunting season. Yet others use Thanksgiving as a day to get ready for the next day’s mad rush of shopping.
One can bemoan the cultural and societal changes surrounding Thanksgiving, but the better option is to recommit to a continuous attitude of gratitude. Gratitude is not a once-per-year matter. Gratitude is a way of seeing life. Gratitude is humility. Gratitude recognizes grace. Gratitude honors unconditional love which bestows blessings without regard to merit. We are not blessed because of who we are. Gratitude is the opposite of pride.
Today I am beginning 40 days of gratitude! Every day until the end of 2010. “Father, help me develop the gratitude habit.” I challenge you to make a list today or 40 things you are thankful for, and focus on one of them for each of the next 40 days.
(Tomorrow, I will share my list.)