WHERE ARE THE NINE?

I find it interesting that one of the “signs of the times” is that people will be “unthankful.” Right in the middle of a list of rather evil characteristics sure to show up as we near the end, God adds “unthankful.” It caught my eye and made me take a good hard look at myself and at the overall subject.

Surely, God means that mankind will get to the place where they do not thank Him for His goodness…for safety, for food, for a finely tuned universe, for the beauty of the earth, for health…but what about showing thankfulness to those around us?

Thankfulness is a two-fold process. Certainly, it includes the verbalizing of our gratitude by the use of the words “thank you,” but to me this subject is very similar to the saying of “I’m sorry” by two young children. We make them “shake hands” and tell each other they are sorry, but we can see by their body language that sorrow is absent from their heart. In the same way, we find ourselves doing the second best when it comes to thankfulness: saying it without thinking through the whole event.

A truly thankful heart begins during the week, before the party, before the need to call on someone for help, before the night-out dinner. Spending less time on dedication to our activities, our computers, our movies, our sports…or at least striving for a spirit of continual character building…we need to be engaged in pre-thankfulness. We need to determine to think about our moms and dads, our brothers and sisters, our friends, our bosses, filled with joy at their presence in our lives, admiring them for making it through the hard times of life, concentrating on the good points about them, remembering the things they have done to bless you (whether they be many or few) and preparing ourselves to be able to express thanks for the book or the candy or the money or the day off with a genuine and sincere spirit.

Think how different it is to tell your mom “thank you” for the $10 she puts in an envelope and sends to you, if during the week you have been remembering that she is the one who brought you to Christ. When your sibling calls out of the clear blue sky just to see how you are doing, if you have been remembering the fun times you had during a certain era of your lives or thanking God that you have siblings at all (because you just heard of someone who fervently wished they had a sister or brother), then thankfulness will exude from your phone demeanor. Your thankfulness will teem with kindness and humility and excitement to have heard from them.

One time about twenty five years ago, I looked up the names and addresses of as many of my Sunday School teachers and Awana leaders I could find and wrote thank you notes to them. My heart nearly bursts at the thought of their input in my life. They showed up for my sake when the basement flooded and when they had colds and headaches, and they were faithful in teaching me God’s Word and befriending me even when life was hard.

Be pre-thankful for your family and friends and when the time comes to express your thanks, you’ll be able to say the words from your heart.

Colossians 3:15 "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful."

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