Thanksgiving and Gratitude

As Americans celebrate Thanksgiving this week, it brings to mind things that we are grateful for. As an American, still celebrating the holiday while in South Africa, I want to remind my countrymen to be grateful.

When someone hands you a gift, the appropriate response in almost any culture is to say; ‘thank you.’ You receive the gift and treasure it. You treat it with respect. Your feelings towards the giver are affected, causing love and gratitude to flow.

In the United States, something we often do to express gratitude for something someone has given is to write a note. In this note, we express appreciation for what has happened. This is a thank you note.

We do not feel a need to climb the ladder to achieve some elusive spiritual platform. We simply respond with gratitude, desiring to get to know the Giver of the gift. We do this because we want to. The gift of God does not come with strings attached.

We could have trashed the gift or not treated it worthy of respect

Why would we want to?

Several popular authors have expressed similar sentiments in their writings.

Philip Yancey, in What’s So Amazing About Grace tells us, “If I had to summarize the primary New Testament motivation for ‘being good’ in one word. I would choose gratitude”

In his book, Ruthless Trust, Brennan Manning tells us “the foremost quality of a trusting disciple is gratefulness. Gratitude arises from the lived perception that all of life is grace, as undeserved and unearned gift from the Father’s hand.”

So on this Thanksgiving, lets be thankful for the most amazing gift of all.

Amazing Grace.

What ways do you express gratitude over Thanksgiving?

Related Posts:
Michael Hyatt: Practicing the Attitude of Gratitude 

Portions of this entry were taken from Death of the Modern Superhero, Copyright 2011

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