Giving Thanks For Everything

“Make sure you eat everything on your plate.” Have you ever heard that statement during a Thanksgiving meal? It is usually said to keep us from focusing on the items that taste good, are more appealing, in contrast to those items that are members of the vegetable family, are less appealing. The message was clear—it is not always the items that are most appealing that are best for you.
This Thanksgiving make sure you take the time to give thanks for everything that has been placed on your plate since last Thanksgiving. In that time period you may have experienced some very difficult events: the death of a loved one, the lost of a job, difficulties in a close relationship, a health challenge, or one of a number of items that aren’t appealing to us. We normally don’t like to focus on these events, but they are how we grow. Typically our desire is to grow deeper in our relationship with God without going through difficult times. We want “insta-deep” or “Deep-o-matic” without a challenging after taste. But that is not how God works. God is concerned about the process as much as He is about the goal. We are more concerned with the goal.
        In Jonah 2:8—9 we are given an important truth that there is a sacrifice of thanksgiving we can offer God, even in the midst of our difficulties. Jonah states while in the belly of a great fish that has swallowed him “All who worship worthless idols turn from the God who offers them mercy. But with shouts of praise, I will offer a sacrifice to you, my LORD. I will keep my promise, because you are the one with power to save.” It is clear that Jonah had come to realize that God had him in a difficult place to draw Jonah close, and the best way to respond was through thanksgiving.
        Remember this Thanksgiving Season to give thanks, or eat, everything that has been placed on your plate. Give thanks for it all—“in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!