“Thank you for your business!”
“Thank you for working through these difficult times.”
“Thank you for your kind words.”
“Thank you for your patience.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
“Thanks for stopping by!”
“Thank you for reaching out.”
“Thank you for thinking of me.”
“Thank you for cleaning up.”
“Thank you for making dinner.”
These are just a few examples of ways I’ve said and heard “thank you” in the past few weeks. We say it a lot. We are thankful for a lot of things, it seems. But how genuine are those thank you’s? You can tell the difference between someone who is truly grateful and someone who is just saying it as a formality. We say many hollow thank you’s in the course of a typical day that the idea of thankfulness and gratitude have been a bit muted because of that. That’s not to say we don’t have things we are genuinely grateful for, it’s just that the word has been worn out, so now it takes a little bit more intentionality to think about what we are thankful for in more than just superficial sense.
In this time, I’ve been trying to focus on what I am grateful for. Like Philippians 4:8-9 says “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” (NIV). When we exercise gratitude, we are doing exactly this. When we take a moment to step out of the chaos and think about our blessings over our burdens, we are exercising a sacred practice of refocusing on God’s goodness. No matter where you are in this time, working on the front lines, resting at home after being laid off, or working from home, this is a time to look to what we are grateful for, because if we only look at the bad things, we will never see the glory of God.
Satan tries to tell us that the bad negates the good, but that is simply not true. They coexist. Always. There is always something good in the midst of even the worst tragedies. This is because of the hope we have in Christ. He has given us the gift of His peace in this world. We can cast our cares and burdens on Him because He loves us, and we don’t have to live enslaved by sadness and disaster, but we can turn to the God who loves us with gratitude for what we have.
Now, I know there are people right now who may not feel grateful for much of anything. Maybe you’re battling illness, covid-19 or otherwise. Maybe you’re quarantined in a home that is far from peaceful. Maybe you’re still working on the front lines and you just wish you could stay home and rest to be safe from the pandemic. It’s in situations like that, where things aren’t going the way you want, and everything feels like the worst possible scenario. This is when it’s the hardest to be grateful. It’s in those moments, though, that if you feel like you have nothing to be thankful for, to just cry out to God, and thank Him that He is near to you in your suffering and your weariness and that He hears your cries. Thank God that He calls us friends, and that He understands what we are struggling with and will comfort us through it. Be grateful that you have a hope and a future, and if you can’t see it now, God never goes back on His promises. He loves you and He has a plan for you, and when there is nothing else in the world to be thankful for, be thankful for His promises.
I’ve been working at a bank during this whole pandemic, and every week in our internal newsletters, different employees send in what they are thankful for and what makes them smile. The newsletters have been many pages long, filled with what fills people with joy. It is so encouraging to see that every week, and that we still have so much to be thankful for, and that instead of complaining or living in fear, we are combatting that with gratitude. I have a lot of reasons to not be joyful, but I still have this peace and joy that surpasses understanding, and that only comes from God.
So I encourage you, if you feel hopeless, defeated, scared, ashamed, look to the Father. Focus on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, and praise worthy, and you will be filled with a peace that surpasses understanding that only comes from God, our light and our salvation.
