With Thanksgiving approaching, as with other holidays – I tend to reminisce about my family’s past celebrations. It all begins when I decorate with my glass gravy boat in the shape of a turkey. This year, hidden in between some pumpkin embroidered napkins, I found a Thanksgiving card my sister had lovingly sent me last year in the mail. I displayed it on my desk as if an old relic.
I remember when gratefulness and thanking people were common communication skills for maintaining relationships. Not only showcased on Thanksgiving, but conveyed in loving gestures and expressions of gratitude on any given day. Now, being thankful is a trending mime or a plaque on a wall. It’s reduced to a state of mind, or positive thinking to make one feel good about themselves, instead of something you actually do. Gratefulness should cost you something.
This week in the middle of the day, my doorbell rang. I found no one there except for a tin filled with homemade baked-goods beautifully decorated left on my porch. The card attached thanking me for being a part of their life. This loving gesture has inspired this blog. In order for gratefulness to be a virtue, it will take some effort.
I am thankful to others who make this effort. My son-in-law thanks me with hugs. I have a small box, filled with cards from my children thanking me for being their mom. My sisters express it by giving me something purposeful or sentimental. I have a friend who gives me little gift tokens of her gratefulness for time spent with her; other friends express their gratitude for my friendship with cards (I have one friend who writes on the front, the back and the sides and you know who you are). This virtue is not lost on this generation – my nephew’s wedding this past summer, I received a thank-you note within days of my gift. I was so impressed that I almost sent her a thank-you note thanking her for her thank-you note.
Psalm 100:4 ” … be thankful to Him …” and so it begins in the heart as an instruction. But like faith, gratitude without works is dead. I believe it begins with being grateful to God. Because God places this yearning deep inside us to thank him for our salvation, which in return creates life-giving joy.
So, call someone and tell them “thank you,” or write them a note (they still sell thank-you note cards at the store), send them a Hallmark card, bake them a cake, wash their floor. The sky’s the limit. This Thanksgiving season, and every day – be truly thankful, by letting it cost you.