Thanksgiving... an attitude

(Note: this was supposed to have been posted Thanksgiving 2012... obviously didn't quite make it!)
it’s impossible to be thankful, and at the same time, be grumpy, cantankerous, critical, or ill-tempered… This was  the thought that motivated Johnson Oatman Jr. to write the song, “Count Your Blessings,”  the focus of our CoCW last Thanksgiving, in 2011.

If we were grateful last year, which we were, words are inadequate to tell how much more thankful we are this year!  If all goes according to plan, Patricia will be returning home this Wednesday, enabling us to celebrate Thanksgiving together and at home—praise the Lord!

And yet, as I reflect on this, why is it that we feel our gratitude must be determined by our circumstances? As the psalmist writes on this subject, notice what motivates him:

“I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness

    and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.”  Psalm 7.17

“Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;

    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
  Let us come before him with thanksgiving
    and extol him with music and song.
  For the Lord is the great God,
    the great King above all gods.”  Psalm 95.1-3 

“Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
  his love endures forever.”  Psalm 106.1

 
Ultimately our gratitude, our sense of thankfulness and praise to God, is rooted in who He is, not so much in what’s happening to us. Yet, having said that, there is a place for recognizing and thanking God for what He has done for us as well. In Psalm 30, David writes:

“You turned my wailing into dancing;

    You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
  that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
    O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.”  Psalm 30.11-12

And so, doesn’t it come down to this simple truth:

If we are alive and belong to the Savior, we have all the reason we need to shout our gratitude to the heavens every day… and, if we are not living—well, it just doesn’t get any better! Praising and thanking our God morning, noon and night! 

Won’t that be the most glorious Thanksgiving ever