Grateful Heart

By Joan Weber

I was looking at the calendar this afternoon and suddenly realized that Thanksgiving is almost upon us. While I love this celebration, I sometimes wonder about the value of Thanksgiving. It seems a bit sad that we set aside one day to thank God for our blessings. Does that let us off the rest of the year and make us think we don't have to be people of grateful hearts every second of every day?

One of my nieces told me that every night when her four young children say their night prayers, they always start with "Thank you, God, for this wonderful day" before they pray the "God bless . . ." part. I love picturing Kaitlyn, Ben, Emma, and Drew remembering who gives them their days, even those days that might not be so wonderful.

I am more and more convinced that my problem with thanking God is that I do it too specifically. I thank God when good things happen to me and to those I love. I thank God when my prayers are answered — the way I wanted them answered! But I want to change that. I want to thank God always. I want to be like Betsy ten Boom in the book The Hiding Place. Betsy, a Christian who died in the concentration camps during World War II for sheltering Jews in her home, told her sister Corrie that she thanked God for everything, even the fleas in the camp. Corrie survived the holocaust to share their story. She wrote that she wasn't too keen about thanking God for something as aggravating as the fleas. In fact, she thought Betsy was really naive to pray this way . . . until she found out that the Bible study she and Betsy did with the women in the concentration camp was never discovered because the guards didn't want to enter the sleeping areas — because of the fleas!

I want to live with gratitude in my heart all the time. I want to take the words of the Scripture passage in Colossians and make them my mantra:

Each of you is part of the body of Christ, and you were chosen to live together in peace. So let the peace that comes from Christ control your thoughts. And be grateful. Let the message of Christ completely fill your lives, while you use all your wisdom to teach and instruct each other. With thankful hearts, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. Whatever you say or do should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks to God the Father because of him.
(Col. 3:15-17, CEV)

Scripture calls us to sing with thankful hearts. I want to sing what Tom Tomaszek sings in his song, Grateful:

Grateful for the life you give us,
thankful for your Holy Son,
joyful in your Spirit flowing
over all, O God of Love.

Grateful for the Bread of Heaven,
thankful for your Holy Word,
Joyful in your mercy flowing,
we will praise you.

Tom Tomaszek reminds me that the response of a grateful heart is praise, pure and simple. I have tried strategies, and some of them have helped make me more conscious of having a grateful heart. But in the end, it is a matter of focusing on God, not on what I have or don't have. One line in "Grateful" especially strikes me: "You are more than we imagine . . ." I want to thank this God who is so much more than I could ever imagine! I want to thank God with all my heart, all my soul, and all my strength.

As we enter the season of Thanksgiving, let's pray with grateful hearts:

Thank you, God, for this wonderful day. God, you are so amazing. I praise you for your awesome love, your creativity, your care, your majesty, and your perfect love. I praise you for all you are and all you do. Amen.

Spirit Compass reflections are developed in partnership
with the Center for Ministry Development.