Something wonderful happened in my neighborhood about a year ago. A Farmer’s Market opened up and sets up every Saturday morning. The fresh food is good, but I like the fresh Belgian waffles the best! There’s a story about a mother and her young four-year-old son attending a local Farmers’ Market one day, when the young boy ran ahead to a wonderful looking fruit stand. The boy was given an orange by the guy in the stand. The small boy said something to the man and walked away. When he returned to his mom she asked, “I saw that nice man give you an orange. What did you say to him?” The boy looked back at her and said, “Can you peel it?”
As we are preparing for the upcoming holiday celebrations, it’s a good opportunity to take a break, take stock and give some thanks. In other words, show some gratitude.
One of the most prevalent sins in the world today is ingratitude. Yes, I said sins. Now, I don’t use that word often, but living with no sense of gratitude may be one of the saddest postures one can take in life. I define sin as anything that separates us from God and one another. So, being ungrateful, to me, is a sin. It’s very self-centered … all about me!
The holiday of Thanksgiving gave us a chance to show our gratitude. This holiday is based on the fact (and some of it myth) that the earliest European settlers who came to this country celebrated a holiday with their new found friends – the Native American Indians. The idea has stuck because it’s an ideal to which we still aspire: two groups of people working together for the common good who give thanks for the simple gift of peace and survival.
Both Native Americans and colonists had lost many members to disease, but in the midst of their struggles, they still found reasons to be grateful to God. After their corn harvest, the Pilgrims decided to set aside three days of prayer and thanksgiving at the end of November, and invited a group of friendly Native Americans to join them in the festivities.
Other American colonies had their individual celebrations, and in 1789 President George Washington proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day, saying it was: “To be devoted by the people of these states to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may unite in rendering sincere and humble thanks …”
We’ve come a long way from that. And now it’s football, turkey and shopping! But, for many of us, it’s still about finding reasons to be grateful – and then showing that gratitude in how we live.
In the big picture of things, we all have reasons to be grateful. While things may not be perfect, they are no doubt infinitely better than they could be.
Kaki Johnson, keeps a prayer journal, and I asked her to share some of it with me around the theme of gratitude.
“Thanksgiving opens the heart to God, to good, for thanksgiving gives focus to what is, not to what is not.”
“Thanksgiving focuses on what you have, what you see, what is in the presence. Daily practice of thanksgiving settles the soul, comforts the mind and attunes you with God. Thanksgiving actively releases energy.”
Powerful words.
I ran across a poem recently, I think you’ll like it!
Cookies
The woman arrived at an airport one night,
With several long hours before her flight.
She hunted for a book in the airport shop,
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.
She was engrossed in her book, but happened to see,
That the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be,
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between,
Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.
So she munched the cookies and watched the clock,
As the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock.
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by,
Thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I would blacken his eye.”
With each cookie she took, he took one too;
When only one was left, she wondered what he would do.
With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh,
He took the last cookie and broke it in half.
He offered her half, as he ate the other,
She snatched it from him and thought … “Oh, brother!”
This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude,
Why he didn’t even show any gratitude!
She had never known when she had been so galled,
And sighed with relief when her flight was called.
She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate,
Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.
She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat,
And then she sought her book, which was almost complete.
As she reached in her bag, she gasped with surprise;
There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes.
If mine are here, she moaned in despair,
The others were his, and he tried to share.
Too late to apologize, she realized with grief,
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief!
How many times have we absolutely known that something was a certain way, only to find out later that what we believed to be true was not? Keep an open mind and an open heart, because you just never know, you might be eating someone else’s cookies!
We sing a song, “I’ll say yes, God, yes, to your will and to your way …” It’s easy to sing that, but many times we have no idea what God’s will is for our lives. We make it so difficult. If you ever wanted to know God’s will for your life, well, I Thessalonians has it neatly packaged for you.
Rejoice always.
Pray without ceasing.
Give thanks in all circumstances.
Amen!
PS: You are invited to our Christmas Eve candlelight services at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. I hope to see you!
Rev. Dan Koeshall is the senior pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met), 2633 Denver Street, San Diego, California, themetchurch.org. Services every Sunday at 9 and 11 a.m.
