To Whom, For What, and Why?

Social media is truly a very mixed blessing.  With it, we can unknowingly stalk love interests' photos, feed the flames of jealousy over what old acquaintances' lives look like, gain endless ideas for how to make "poo-less" shampoo and what to cover with chalkboard paint, and bemoan with like-minded sports fanatics over how so-in-so's team underperformed over the weekend and should be fired.

But for one month a year, some of the mediums turn into an outlet for positivity through which many have joined in expressing something they are thankful for each day.  Now, particularly after the awful presidential campaign season, it is a refreshing change.  However, it has brought me to contemplate the nature of thankfulness, particularly in public forums such as Twitter and Facebook.

Ever since I was a child sitting around the table at Thanksgiving, I always harbored conflicting thoughts about the practice of going around the room, with each person expected to proclaim something he or she was thankful for.  It would often end with a toast, which I also never really understood, and then a gluttonous belly-stuffing.  I regretted these conflicting feelings because I knew that being and expressing thankful sentiments was a good thing to do, but something about it never felt quite right to me.  But it struck me this morning.

Thankfulness is recognition of something undeserved and expressing gratitude for it.  Myriads of people express thankfulness for truly great things- love of family, sacrifice of military, met needs and desires, fond memories, etc.  But I must question these expressions -- do we ACTUALLY believe we are undeserving of them?  Secondly, what is the purpose of these expressions and proclamations?  And finally, to whom is the recipient of these expressions of thankfulness?

(I do not pretend to be a mind or heart-reader.  Nor am I pronouncing judgment on anyone who desires to practice thankfulness-- it IS a good thing!  I need to hear this, myself, as much as anyone!). Young children are taught to respond by saying "thank you" upon receiving something.  Not only that but saying it TO the giver.  ("LOOK at her when you say it" and "Go over and say it TO him" are a few phrases I've heard a few times in my day).  When you say "thank you" for something, you have to say it to someone for it to actually hold any purpose or meaning.  So when I see "Day 14: I am thankful for my seven cats" as a status on Facebook, it causes me to wonder WHO is being acknowledged for the host of felines.  OR, as I suspect is the case, the secular culture that we are waking up each day merely likes the idea of general gratitude that seems to make society a more pleasant place to exist in.  Without acknowledging the origin of these seven cats, it is simply a statement that says, "I like having these cats in my life."  Sitting around a Thanksgiving feast and proclaiming, "I am thankful for my health" expresses the pleasure of an easy life, not true thankfulness.

So what is missing?  Ephesians 5:20 reads, "... Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father..."  Psalm 50 says, "Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving." Psalm 106:1 shouts, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!"  A few chapters earlier in Psalm 100, the writer exclaims, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise!  Give thanks to Him!"  Philemon expresses, "I thank my God always when I remember you in prayer..."  Paul teaches in Colossians, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly... With thankfulness in your hearts toward God..."  What do all of these have in common?  We are told to express thankfulness TO GOD.  For what?  The first verse (along with many I have not listed here) says simply EVERYTHING.  Why are we to do this?  Because God gives richly- that's why.  I would like to challenge you (and myself) to carefully consider the heart behind the words of thankfulness during this season.

Thanks for reading.  I thank God for you.