KERRY ANDERSON | GUEST

Thank you note season is here. Though a waning tradition, I’m still a sucker for nice stationery, cute note cards, and handwritten thank you’s. And while we didn’t always nail the follow through (more than once I’ve found one of those unstamped, unmailed letters months later), we really did try to have our kids and ourselves write thank you notes for the gifts received on birthdays and holidays. The content was rarely substantial or original. Most started with the expected, “Dear Grandma, Thank you for the….” But, they were something. They acknowledged receipt of the gift and expressed gratitude for it. With pressing, my children would expand a bit more about the gift and its utility or their enthusiasm for it. It was progress in gratitude, at least in practice. But something was missing

As I reflect now, generating enthusiasm for the gift falls short of the goal. Maybe rather than piling up attributes toward the thing received, perhaps the first two words of a thank you note are the ones that really matter. It’s the “Dear Grandma (or whoever),” the person opening and reading that note that is critical. We could all write lengthy, detailed thank you notes for gifts we receive, but if we don’t address and give them to someone, and the giver never actually sees or hears our words of thanks, our gratitude is lacking, empty, and misplaced. It becomes merely an advertisement for a product.

The Object of our Thanks

A sermon on this from years ago stuck with me (bringing in grammar concepts always perks my ears up) when my pastor explained that our thanks must have an object. There must be a receiver (God) of our expressions of thanks. We aren’t to be just thankful for something we’ve received. We’re to be thankful TO God for giving it to us. As believers, the object of our thanksgiving is not the gift; it is the giver.

James 1:17 provides the foundational thought: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” Gifts don’t just magically appear in our lives; they come from our Heavenly Father, the most attentive of all gift-givers who has perfectly timed these gifts for when and how we need them.

We may offer up thanksgiving, express gratitude, or convey appreciation for situations, people, events, material and spiritual things in our lives, but if it’s not directed TO the giver, it misses the mark. The common parental focus on ingratitude is not unwarranted, but it’s usually an attempt to correct a degree of sentiment rather than the more fundamental problem of orientation. What we want and what blesses and honors most is an acknowledgment of a person, not a transaction.

Expressing Thanksgiving to the Giver

A help to us in this pursuit of true gratitude is the understanding that thanksgiving isn’t an ethereal state of being we sort of wait to descend upon us. Just as our friends witness our gratitude when we write them a thank you note for the meal brought over when we’re sick, when God is the object of our thanks, there are concrete ways to generate and demonstrate that gratitude to Him and to others.

We can begin by remembering and meditating on God as a giver. Posturing our heart to see that the Lord is the provider and giver all things. Remembering that He loves to give to His children— and give generously! Among many things, He is the giver of good things, (1 Tim. 6:17), of our material needs (Matt. 6:31-34), of wisdom (James 1:5), of grace (2 Cor. 9:8), and best of all, of life in Jesus Christ (John 6:33).

In Psalm 9:1-2, David shows us the way to direct our gratitude, “I will give thanks to you (emphasis mine), Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.”

Paul likewise in Colossians 3:17 models this when he says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” In fact, Paul may be our greatest model for this in his many epistles to the local churches. He is consistently thankful for the recipients of the letters, but he always states that he is thankful TO GOD for them, not just thankful for them (Rom. 1:8; 1 Cor. 1:4-8; Eph. 1:15-16; Phil. 1:3-5; Col. 1:3-5; 1 Thess. 1:2-3; 2 Thess. 1:3-4; 2 Tim. 1:3-5; Phil. 4-5).

What is your language like when expressing thanks? Do you say in your heart and out loud to others, “I’m not just thankful but I’m thankful to the Lord, for these.” Or “I’m not just thankful for your friendship, but I’m, thankful to God for bringing you, friend, into my life.” And as you go around the Thanksgiving table with the ever-popular conversation topic of “What are you thankful for,” could you add in the language of “I’m thankful to God, for my family, friends, and good food.”

There’s still time to get this right. As we enter this season of gratitude and gift-giving, seek out the opportunities to express thanksgiving to God, the giver of all good things. And may all our thank you notes make it into the hands of those who deserve to receive them!

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash