This Thanksgiving, don’t forget to be grateful for the little things

As my friends in America approach the Thanksgiving holiday, it is a good time to reflect on the importance of gratitude. 

One way to be more grateful to God is to appreciate and value God's grace and goodness in our lives. 

Let’s start by thinking of ordinary things that we enjoy: a cup of coffee, a smile from a baby, a display of creation’s autumn colors, a stunning sunset, or a song. On their own, these may be seen as mere background experiences in the many events that make up our lives each day. Now consider the thing that you have enjoyed, as a gift from a God who loves you. You might want to quite specifically imagine Jesus handing you that cup of coffee, creating those trees, or coloring that sunset. 

We read in the Bible that ‘Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father …’(James 1:17). So once we recognize God’s gift, that ordinary "something" has now become an "extraordinary" gift from God.

In the Christian faith, we focus on the awesome truth that in the crucifixion of Jesus, God himself was purchasing our forgiveness. That is the greatest gift we could ever have and we must always be grateful for that. 

Yet there is also an enormous number of other smaller things where God’s love towards His children spills over into numerous different areas and we should recognize them everywhere. So if we enjoy the beauty of a sunlit landscape, we can thank God. If we have a good meal, we can give thanks to God. Yes, God loved us in an extraordinary way 2,000 years ago when Jesus died for us, but He loves us now and all the good things of life are signs of His love.

We can let big truths block out little ones, and we may be so focused on the idea that God is the supreme Creator of the universe or the One who will bring justice to the world that we overlook the truth that he is a God whose grace and love can be seen daily. His relationship with us is that of continuous, never-ending love. The cross of Christ proclaims that God is love, but that glorious truth is echoed in an innumerable number of other ways.

To recognize God’s generous, loving hand behind our major and minor joys and blessings is the key to not just a Thanksgiving Day of gratitude, but a daily life of thanksgiving.