How do we say, “Thank You, God?”
As one drives along the roadways, there has become a sight too large to miss: large skeletons standing upright in people’s front yards. As I drive from one campus to another, one particular skeleton catches my eye. This was not the regularly seen, overly large skeleton of a person’s body but that of a turkey. As I drove along the highway, on the day when I first saw this sight, suddenly, I found myself struck by its oddness.
Picture in your mind a highway filled with curves that wind through God’s farmland. See a large farmhouse sitting on a hill, one with a sloping yard that runs downward toward the highway. See a large, mature tree, and see a giant-sized turkey skeleton, one that seems to stand over seven feet tall. Often, I have considered stopping to take a photo of this giant bird, and maybe I should because each time I see it, I smile. Yesterday, as I passed by this farmhouse and as I slowed down my vehicle to maneuver through the curve, I found myself looking off to the right, seeing this large turkey, and I smiled even more, for now the turkey wears a pilgrim’s hat.
In America, we are walking through the season of autumn, toward the Thanksgiving holiday, and into a season of thankfulness. We find our world transforming, going from the season of Halloween and marching toward Christmas. Beautifully affixed in the middle of is this wonderful time we find Thanksgiving. Quite possibly, that might be the reason the owner of the overly large turkey skeleton has “dressed” it with this distinctive pilgrim’s hat. Even as I sit here typing these words, I see the image in my mind, find myself smiling, and asking:
How do we say, “Thank You, God?”
The psalmist David wrote—
“I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart;
(The Psalms 9: 1 NASB)
I will tell of all Your wonders.”
Thus, in this season of Thanksgiving, we tell others we meet about the great things the LORD has done in our lives. Christian artist Anne Wilson sings a melody titled “God Story” that includes these lyrics.
“Miracles upon miracles that only God can do . . . . We are only one prayer away from a testimony.”
So, we ask: “How do we say, “Thank You, God, for ALL You have done for me?”
The LORD led Moses to write about this thankfulness in Genesis—
“God blessed them;
(Genesis 1:28 NASB)
[Adam & Eve]
and God said to them,
“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
In this season of Thanksgiving: We make a difference, living for God, in the world where we call home. We use our gifts to help others. We share our wealth freely, giving to others (of our time & of our assets) with no strings attached. In order to express our gratitude to the LORD (for ALL HE has done), we live each day, being about God’s work, doing good wherever the Spirit leads us to be and do. Therefore, Thanksgiving—
- Is NOT about dressing up our skeleton turkeys with a pilgrim’s hat.
- NOR is it about what we have accumulated.
RATHER, ‘THANKS-GIVING’ IS WHAT WE GIVE OF OURSELVES TO OTHERS AS WE GLORIFY GOD.
In doing so, we better understand the words the LORD gave the apostle Paul to write—
“Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
(The 1st Letter of Paul to Timothy 6: 17-19 NASB)
Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future,
so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.”
Let us remember how this season of Thanksgiving is NOT about what we have stored up in our savings accounts or about what we have acquired; however, this season of thankfulness is about what we GIVE. In recalling the LORD’S GRACIOUSNESS & in giving as others have need & in sharing our testimony, we “take hold of that which is life indeed.” (The 1st Letter of Paul to Timothy 6: 19b NASB)
- May we enjoy what God richly provides—by doing good.
- May we say, “Thank You, God”—by being rich in good works.
- May we express our thankfulness to the LORD, for ALL HE has done—by our generosity. &
- May we tell the world that we belong to Jesus Christ—by sharing our testimony and allowing our lives to actually reflect this truth.
“I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart;
(The Psalms 9: 1 NASB)
I will tell of all Your wonders.”