In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (1 Thessalonians 5:8 KJV)

Giving thanks is easy.  Nothing’s more natural than thanking God for the good things in our lives: for this good life, for our families and for all who we love and who manage to love us back, for the blessings of our material prosperity, for our health and for everything that brings us joy. 

Or maybe, giving thanks is not so easy.  When we pick out things to be thankful for, aren’t we being too choosy?  There’s a lot of stuff that we don’t feel thankful for.

Who gathers around the Thanksgiving table to render heartfelt thanks for another year in which you weren’t able to maintain sobriety?  Or who remembers to give thanks for the breakup of your child’s marriage before digging into the Thanksgiving feast?  Should you give thanks for your high blood pressure or diabetes?  Why stop there, why not give thanks for cancer and heart disease?  Can you imagine giving thanks that death has left an empty place where grandpa used to sit?

Three years ago, just before Thanksgiving, Sandy and I escaped a fast-moving fire in our truck.  While the smoke was still rising from the skeleton of our truck, we were already genuinely thankful.  We both got out with just the clothes on our back, but we were unhurt.  We were carrying relatively safe cargo compared to what we often had on-board.  We were insured.  We were the recipients of help from complete strangers.  We were blessed.

I wasn’t thankful to have my life turned upside down, but I was thankful to have the opportunity to see how it would unfold.

I am really disinclined to believe that God puts a thumb on the cosmic scale and arranges our life circumstances, but I do believe that God works in all the varied circumstances of our lives.  I believe that this day is God’s gift to us and that each day is a disclosure of God’s love for us.

Because I believe today is God’s gift, I’m thankful for all that has brought me here, even the things I didn’t like, even the things that broke my heart.

Prayer:  God of love and mystery, thank you for this day, for these circumstances, for this opportunity to know your abiding presence and to experience your tender mercies.  Amen.