Title: Thanks Anyway
Date: 2008-11-09
Reference: Psalm 100
I was visiting with a person this week who asked me for some help I was unable to give. At the end of our conversation he said: “It’s all right, Thanks anyway.” Thanks anyway. I’ve said that very thing, lots of times. I believe that sentiment is an important part of our Thanksgiving Celebration.
We are thankful to God through it all. Even when things have not turned out as we hoped, and we are disappointed we give thanks anyway. Our thankfulness should never be dependent upon favorable circumstances. Being Thankful is not the same as being thankful for something. Of course we are grateful to God for the many good gifts we enjoy from the Hand of God. Psalm 9:1 says: “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. I will tell of all His wonderful deeds.”
A wise man once said: “If the only prayer you ever say in your life is Thank you, that would suffice.” The question for us is: “Are we less thankful when we are faced with difficulties?” Of course we would never be thankful for the distractions of life, but we always have the freedom to seek a blessing in the midst of life’s disappointments. A man who had lived a very difficult life passed and was buried. He had worked hard for years barely getting by. He struggled to feed his family and to make ends meet. He faced some health issues. Though it all he was grateful for life and the gifts of God. His widow placed on his tombstone a simple but meaningful tribute. It said: “He always appreciated.” I hope that is what people can say about me. He always appreciated.
As the poet said: “True Thanksgiving teaches us to count the blessings of life and not the crosses. To count the gains and not the losses. The joys instead of the woes. Smiles rather than tears, courage instead of fears. To look at the kind deeds rather than the mean. Health instead of wealth. To count on God rather than self.”
God is not the author of all things, but God is the Lord of all things. One of my favorite Gospel Songs is: “The God of the mountains is the God in the Valley.” As this song notes life is full of peaks and valleys. Every mountain has a peak and every valley has a low point. Life has it’s ups and downs, peaks and valleys. No one of us is up all the time and no one of us is down all the time. Happy times and hard times come and go. Problems are resolved in time. The storms always give way to the sun. Winter always thaws into Springtime.
It’s also true that a disappointment for one person could be a blessing for another. In an election there is only one winner. Both teams cannot win the football game. The exterminator came to our house this week to spray around the outside of the house. The presence of pests in America is responsible for hundreds of jobs. As the exterminator said to me last week: “Mice, bugs, and other rodents are a pain, but they allowed me to feed my family.” One person’s problem is another person’s opportunity. In life there is much we cannot control. We can always control our response.
Recently I was making small talk with another person. We noted how fast the year was going. I said: “Thanksgiving will be here before you know it.” She said: “I sure won’t have much to be thankful for this year.” She went on to list several disruptions in her life as to why she was not thankful.
People of faith have always been thankful period. On the mountaintop and in the valley, we are thankful. The Great Thanksgiving Hymn: “Now Thank We all our God” was written during the 30 years war in Europe. Martin Rinkart was the only pastor in the walled city of Eilenberg. Many refuges had fled to the city hoping the high walls of the city would protect them. In time the city was over run and looted by three armies. Hunger and plague were chronic problems. In one year Einkart conducted 5,000 funerals including one for his own wife. When he wrote: “Guide us when perplexed” he was not talking about mere inconvenience. Yet thanksgiving is the theme of that stately song. As the song says: “We thank God even during the most trying times. We know God is with us in this world and the next.”
He wrote his hymn because he was thankful and he was hopeful. The old quote is: “Where there is life there is hope.” The reverse is also true. A relationship no matter how rocky has a chance of surviving if there is still hope. A town that’s fallen victim to a natural disaster has a chance of rebuilding if there is hope. A couple facing financial stresses can survive if they have hope. Those facing illness and devastating grief will carry on if they have hope. A very necessary part of hope if Thanksgiving.
A thankful heart allows us to have love in our relationships, joy in our successes, hope in our difficulties and triumph over challenges, and comfort in all our sorrows. I’ve always believed some good comes out of every problem. While we are not thankful for the problem we are free to choose our reaction. Last week my mother mustered up the courage to fly back East to visit with my brother for a week. She missed her connecting flight which caused her great anxiety. She was put on a later flight.
On her flight she met some of the nicest people. They helped her and were a real blessing in her life. I’m sure there would have been nice people on the initial flight as well. The point is: “learning to look for a blessing and not always focusing on the distraction in life.” “I missed my flight, but thanks anyway God. You will get me safely where I need to be. You will send the people I need to help me into my situation. Thanks Anyway”.
Thanksgiving has become for many a distraction between Halloween and Christmas. This holiday is a distraction because we don’t take the time to be thankful.
Gratitude is the first born child of Grace. He or she who forgets the language of gratitude will never be on speaking terms with happiness.
A missionary was leading worship on an island leper colony. He invited the congregation to choose a favorite hymn to sing. A woman with a terribly disfigured face, no ears, nose or lips raised her fingerless hand and asked: “Could we please sing ‘count your many blessings name them one by one?” The missionary song leader was very touched by this display of gratitude. Later someone said: “I’ll bet you will never be able to sing that song again?” He replied, “Oh no, I’ll sing it, but never in the same way.”
I received an e-mail this week which expressed the gratitude I am trying to describe. It said: “If I find myself in traffic I won’t despair. There are millions of persons in the world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege. Should I have a hard day at work I’ll think of the person who has been out of work for years. When I despair in a relationship I’ll think of the person who has never known what it is to love and be loved in return. When I grieve the passing of another weekend I’ll think of the woman in dire straits working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week to feed her family.
When I find myself at a loss and pondering what life is all about, what my purpose in life is, I will think about those who didn’t live long enough to get the opportunity. Whenever I find myself the victim of another person’s wrath, bitterness, and anger I’ll remember it could be worse. I could be bitter and angry myself. And through it all, through it all I will be thankful.
We all know by now life is full of distractions. Life is never trouble free. Life is certainly not fair. But life is wonderful, and life is good. We must always be grateful for the gift of life. Even in the midst of our problems we are thankful. The truly thankful person is able to live a full, rich, happy life on what is left over not fretting about what has been lost.
Today’s Psalm calls us to be thankful to God and to Bless God’s name. To have an Attitude of Gratitude. We praise God because God is good. We experience God’s mercy each and every day. God’s mercy is everlasting. We worship God with an attitude of gladness and gratitude. We should never come to worship or prayer simply to ask God for things we want, or think we need. God’s great desire is to enjoy a relationship with each of His sons and daughters. Our gratitude is never solely dependent on what we perceive as good things. We are grateful through it all.
A pastor said: “I’ve come to see the dark moments of life as precious moments. In those times I’ve learned to ask: ‘Is this a moment God wants to speak to me? To teach me?’ “ Facing a moment of great personal disappointment this same pastor addressed his congregation saying: “You have been with me on many occasions when God has said yes. And not you will see how I react when God says no.”
A college in the Midwest offers a course entitled “Failure 101". I think that is a course I surely could have earned an A+ in. This business course exposed students to the idea that failure, disappointment, and frustration are part of life. The sooner they learn to survive failure and even expect it, the better off they will be. Interestingly enough, this secular class teaches students that one way to survive the hard times is by having a thankful heart. When we are disappointed may we learn to say: “It’s alright God, Thanks Anyway.”
