Giving Thanks Again

I love the tale that comes out of Benjamin Franklin’s childhood. He noticed a daily routine that went on in their household. His mother would take meat from a barrel where it had been salted and stored, would cut off enough for that day, slice it, cook it and serve it to the family. Everyone would gather around the table, bow their heads, and Ben’s father would offer thanks to the Lord.

“Father,” the young future genius said, “I have a suggestion. Instead of giving thanks for the little portion of the meat we consume each day, why not give God thanks for the entire barrel of meat at one time?”

I heard that story from Dr. Wayne Dehoney of Louisville a generation ago. It came to mind this week as news arrived of his homegoing, only a few weeks after his beloved wife had died.

Dr. Dehoney told the story and added, “Isn’t this just like us. We want to cram all our thanksgiving into one day a year, when God would have us to be grateful every day.”

We generally think of giving thanks as a duty to other people who have served us or helped us in some way. It is that, but so much more.

Giving thanks is something I do for myself.


Nothing changes my sour attitude or lifts my sagging spirits like beginning to enumerate to the Lord all my blessings and thanking Him for them. It’s better at chasing the blues away than a bag of chocolate chip cookies and a quart of milk! Try it the next time you’re feeling down.

My sister Carolyn ran an ad in the Jasper, Alabama, newspaper last Sunday to thank so many friends and neighbors for their kindnesses to our family in the recent death of our Dad. Marty will be posting it here to share with you as soon as she figures out how to transfer it electronically.

We have been so blessed. I’ve mentioned some of the ways previously–visits, calls, cards, notes, emails, flowers, hugs–and we are overwhelmed by the Lord’s goodness to us.

Can I get by with this blanket “thank you” on this space? It’s so little and weak. I hit a few keys and there it is on the page, and I walk away thinking I’ve done something. The fact is, there is no way to repay such kindnesses as we have received, other than passing them along to others who walk the same valleys tomorrow and the day after. I promise to do a better job at that.

I don’t have the energy to write paragraphs about each of the following points, but I hope some pastor will clip this out and build a thanksgiving sermon around it in the future. (Or more likely, let it suggest points of your own for a future message.)

1. Giving thanks is something we do in obedience to our Lord.

2. Giving thanks is something I do to bless myself.

3. Giving thanks is something I do to encourage others.

4. Giving thanks is something of the will, not of our emotions.

5. Giving thanks is something like Jesus.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends.