Are we Really Thankful?

Are we Really Thankful?

As we celebrate another Thanksgiving Day (yes, here in Canada we celebrate this day in October) I find myself pondering the idea of thankfulness and came up with this thought. Are we really a thankful people?

For most part in today’s society, we can find people being thankful when something positive happens to them or for them. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this taking place but what about when things are not going our way, when it feels like there is a dark cloud following us? Perhaps we should look a little deeper into the purpose of thankfulness.

We find in the scriptures that the apostle Paul often encouraged people to give thanks or be thankful. The people that Paul was speaking to were often going through pressures and different types of oppression. What we find is that his purpose was to enable people to see beyond their present circumstances, to enable their sight to expand beyond what their eyes were telling them. They were learning that the power of thankfulness was found when their eyes could not see things to be thankful for.

Thankfulness is a tool for focus, which is quite important because as the saying goes “Your Focus Determines Your Future”. We as humans tend to experience in accordance with our focus. We have the power to convince ourselves that there is no hope, that life and the world is only getting darker. This often occurs when we focus on the problems, not to say that there are no problems, life is full of problems but also life is full of opportunity. Thankfulness helps us to lean to the side of hope and possibility, thankfulness helps us to see what is, versus what is not, thankfulness reminds us that even though it is a cloudy day, behind those clouds the sun is still shining.

This correlates with faith, as faith is the ability to see beyond what our eyes are telling us. It is the choice to see the sun even though it is hidden by the clouds. Again, in the scriptures the apostle Paul tells us that we are to walk by faith and not by sight. We are to walk by the understanding that the sun is always shining and just because the clouds or circumstance declares something different, we still have the power to choose what we see. The idea of only seeing the clouds is considered spiritual blindness in the scriptures. Having our blind eyes open is the faith journey of seeing the sun as it is hidden by the clouds. Being thankful that the sun is always shining allows us to walk in victory even on a cloudy day.

Remember this, that just like everything else, thankfulness is a progressive journey full of mistakes. I would ask you to give yourself permission to make mistakes. Often times we are our own worst enemy, out of the fear of being wrong we hold back as it is much easier to have our life ruled by the clouds. It takes work and it takes practice to see all the good that is around us and every cloudy day is an opportunity for growth and maturity to develop within us.

This idea of thankfulness opens our hearts to see the good in others. This is especially important when we have an encounter with a dark cloud that is following someone. To see beyond what is seen is in essence the faith life. I must recognize that in the present, I only see in part. What is it that I am not seeing about that person, do I know what they may have experienced? Perhaps a thankful attitude will help me to see beyond the surface and discover the real person under that cloud.

What about the changes in society I may be struggling with? Perhaps with a thankful attitude I may find insight or even understanding. In essence, thankfulness opens my heart to new possibilities or at least to be open to listening to someone even though I may not yet understand their perspective.

At the end of the day, thankfulness opens the door to the potential of a better future, both as individuals and as a society. The question then for each of us remains “Am I Really Thankful?”