Today is the day that the United States, and other countries around, collectively spend the day giving thanks for what they have. Traditionally, this time of thanksgiving was the norm around harvest times in cultures that were religious. There is something magically about the growing and gathering of crops that less civilized men knew and understood did not come from them, so they would worship their deities for the blessings that came upon them. As Americans, we do look back to the Pilgrims for the start of our current traditions a mere few hundred years ago. Spending time being thankful for what one has is good. If nothing else, for the pragmatic point that it is hard to be grumpy and thankful at the same time (though I do know some people can figure out/justify them doing this very thing). Being thankful is also a very Christian thing to do (not to be exclusive as there are other thankful cultures out there).
My challenge for today is to remember who it is that you are thankful to. Thankfulness is not something that one can do in a box. It is directional. It goes from a thing to a person who has it to the person who gave it. All three parts are needed in order to be thankful. A person cannot be thankful for nothing to no one. That just does not work.
So today, I am thankful to my God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Christ who died on the cross for my sins, who now sits on the throne and sent His Helper to all His saints. I am thankful for much: my wife who puts up with so much from me and loves me, my family who again has to put up with me, my children who bring me so much joy and sanctification, my school/job as I get paid to do what I love, my church that is honestly more like family, my health because I know it could always be worst, my abilities because I can still be useful to those around me, good food to enjoy because God could have made all food like poorly-cooked turkey, whiskey because there is so much to it and it gladdens the heart, piped tobacco to sharpen the mind and it just tastes and smells good, good books by great men to learn from, and the list could go on if I wanted to spend more time thinking about it.
Being American, I have much that I take for granted: running water, electricity, gas, cars, roads, government and country, protection, police, firemen, lineman, heat, cool, gadgets and electronics, coffee, shoes, clothes, tissues, medicine, leisure time, a bed, and whatever else that is slipping my mind because I am so blessed. I do recognize that I am spoiled. Reading any history book worth anything will show one this. Blessedness is not something to be ashamed for. It is something to not be squandered though.
On this day of thanksgiving, the way to not let your blessedness slip through your fingers is to actually give thanks to the one that gave it to you. As a Christian, I know the one that I should be thankful for, the God of the universe.
In our great country, there are those who share different beliefs than I do. Having beliefs in something does come with implications from those beliefs. I want to poke at and challenge one of those now. To the atheist or those who believe in the cosmic order to things, who are you thankful to? People who have a different religion than I do at least have a deity to be thankful to on this day of thanks. To those who claim no god or merely matter or the universe, or however else you want to put it, why are you thankful? This is a genuine question. The answer that I come up with in my head is either nothing because impersonal natural laws do not care about anything, or ultimately yourself because you have made yourself the judge and god of your life. Both of these scenarios sound terrible to me. I realize that it does, because I am religious, and God is a comfort to me. I love that I do not have to face this life alone. Believing in one of these systems can be logical in nature. Evolution, the Big Bang, the Big Crunch, or whatever other system that you believe in can fit together logically, snugly, in a way that is perfectly explainable to the human mind. The problem with these systems is that it makes life meaningless and a cosmic accident. It makes man worth nothing. It makes life worth nothing. To me, a person who physical life is actually a struggle, having life be pointless terrifies me. If there is no meaning to life, why am I trying so hard? Why do I go through the pain? Why deal with all this mess? I am very blessed, but that does not mean my life is perfect. There are still hard things in my life. If there is no higher meaning outside of cause and effect, why should I struggle through it? To the betterment of mankind that is worthless? I’m sorry but that is not worth it to me for my struggles. I’ll leave that sentiment to someone who is more blessed than I am. This sounds like a terribly lonely life. To those who have chosen to believe in a life of loneliness, I am sorry for you. I want something better for my life and for yours. I want a life that means something to someone outside of myself. One may call religion a crutch, to have to belief in something in order to have a meaningful life. That is fine. You are welcome to believe that. It is the way though. It is the path out of loneliness and meaninglessness, and it is Christ, the One that I am thankful to and thankful for.
Belief is simple. All it takes is faith and everything else.