Thanksgiving for everyday blessings
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6
Thanksgiving is technically a noun. But when we break it apart, it’s very much an action: giving thanks.
It’s lovely that this time of year we think about giving thanks. We all know that it should be something we do year-round, but we also make a special time to think about it. The world around us pauses as we give thanks. But what is it that we’re thankful for?
There are so many blessings in our everyday lives that we tend to forget. It’s not just the big things– it’s in the details! It doesn’t have to be much, and sometimes it means much more to you than it would the next person. Something going just right, the beauty of nature, having enough of something you need, a passing smile, a compliment… it’s endless.
Then there are the more established parts of our lives that we might lose in the everyday-ness. And again, for some, it may mean more than others. A recently homeless person deeply appreciates having a roof over their head; a hungry family is grateful just for one good meal; someone with worn out hand-me-downs gets ecstatic over their own new set of clothes… the list goes on. It’s all about perspective. It’s not about guilting ourselves into being thankful. It’s just honestly taking a second to look at our everyday blessings and realizing how much we have.
Of course, as Christians, we know that every good thing comes from God. But we can’t confuse being blessed with being good. Even if we had none of these tangible everyday blessings, the attitude of our hearts and the words off of our tongues should still be thanksgiving. It’s not a new thought. Habakkuk 3:17-18: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”
When we talk to God, we let our requests be known and we ask earnestly – and we can do this in everything and anything! But the one thing we cannot forget is thanksgiving – in everything and anything. Because we know that what we’re grateful for the most is what comes right before the verse in Philippians 4:6, in verse 5: “The Lord is near.” So we don’t have to be anxious about anything. Instead, we give thanks– for everything.
