Thanksgiving Starts With “Thank You”!
A BIG jumbo sized “THANK YOU”, Lord, for our Dallas Cowboys’ win over Washington Commanders yesterday. What a great time we had cheering for our team! I know that sounds trivial, especially in the light of many who are in a world of hurt today, But, why shouldn’t we be THANKFUL in ALL things?
Carl and I were like two excited kids as we made our way to AT&T Stadium yesterday. We were gifted a parking pass directly across the street from the stadium. We joined the crowd to hoot, holler and wave our white rally towels when our Cowboys gave us even more reasons to be thankful on Thanksgiving Day.
Now we’re packing up our suitcases to go over the river and through the woods to Epiphany Ranch where my Larry and Staci and their family and my Ryan and Shawntel and their family will converge for our Thanksgiving – the day after. This is a happy mama today.
THANK YOU, God, for my family! Notice I’m capitalizing “THANK YOU”! Did your mama ever tap you on your shoulder and whisper, “Say, thank you!” Did you have to be reminded? Oh, but what pride and joy our mama had when she heard us, or we heard our own children, out of grateful hearts say, “THANK YOU!”….and meant it!
How could we NOT say those two simple words? It doesn’t seem possible to breeze through life without stopping to say, “Thank you”. I’m not talking about the mumbled thanks when someone holds open the door or passes the salt. I am talking about saying, and meaning the words, “thank you.” After all, telling someone, “Thanks,” instead of saying, “Thank you,” is sort of like the difference between saying, “Love ya’” and “I love you.”
We should look others in the eye and be specific about why we are thanking them. “We loved the chocolate cake you made for us. Thank you so much!” “Thank you for staying late last night and helping us make the deadline.” “Thank you for the great service today; I really appreciate it.”
It’s so very simple, but for some reason, it seems so very hard for so many people to do. But how could we NOT thank a store clerk for their service or a family member when they have served us in some way?
Apparently, people moved along quickly in the Bible, too. Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem when ten men with leprosy, called out to Him for mercy. He simply told them to go show themselves to the priests. The priest was the one who could issue a life-giving letter of release that indicated they were disease-free. As they obeyed Jesus’ orders to go, they were completely healed. Imagine their joy as they saw their skin repair itself and look like new again.
But only one of the 10 returned and thanked Jesus: “When he saw he was healed, he came back, praising God in a loud voice. He fell at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him.” (Luke 17:15-16). Jesus wonderfully changed 10 lives, but only one came back to say, “thank you”.
May we learn from that one grateful man. May we purposely pause, look that one in the eyes who served us, and say “THANK YOU!”
May thanks-giving be our new way of living. Most of all, may God receive THANKS for saving us, forgiving us, and providing for our needs each day! THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU!