Giving Thanks to the One Who Was, Who Is, and Who Is To Come

It’s Thanksgiving Week, y’all. The air fills with savory and sweet smells as kitchens all over the country fire up to full capacity. My family and I will hold to tradition and head to Grandma’s house to celebrate with extended family. We’re anticipating the usual festivities including multiple turkeys (roasted, smoked, grilled), enough potatoes and gravy to feed a small city, and at least six kinds of pie. That’s just how it’s done at her house. I’ll help with the sweet potato casserole and apple pie as usual, plus whatever other delicacies are on the menu. We’ll spread out over two or three tables stacked high with silver, china, candles, and various cornucopia decorations. It’s pretty much the perfect Pinterest photo every time, and I love it.

Your Thanksgiving may not be as pretty, or it may be even more lavish than the one I’m looking forward to. I’m aware I’ve got it pretty good, all things considered, and some of you have hard holidays ahead. I hope you know how much I pray for you and long for God to give you better days, even as I’m so thankful for the many blessings I’m enjoying right now. I wish we could all gather around the same giant feast with miles and miles of all that’s good and delicious -- one day we will. In the meantime, we’ll do the best we can and thank God for what we have right here and now.

Along with all the calories consumed this week, a million or so of us blogger-types will share our thoughts on giving thanks. I feel like I’d be short-changing you, my friend, if I didn’t at least make some attempt to encourage you towards an attitude of gratitude. And there are at least a million or so different ways we can approach thankfulness towards each other and God every single day, let alone this week. But for our purposes, I’ll settle on just one.

Often when I’m trying to be grateful for the life I have, I find myself with my eyes to the earth. I look around me and try to name each and every thing I can thank God for, which is everything. It’s a good practice, to be sure, and one that can occupy me for the rest of time. All credit to Ann Voskamp and her book “One Thousand Gifts” to showing me how to honor God for even the tiniest blessings of life.

But I’ve got a different approach in mind today, one I hope will fix my eyes on something higher than what I see around me. Instead of focusing on the stuff I’m thankful for, I want to focus on the Someone who gives it all. God is the Giver, and so I’m thinking of framing my gratitude in terms of Who He Is instead of what He’s given. It’s a subtle shift, and not one that’s necessarily better or more holy than any other approach. I just like the idea of keeping my eyes up on Him when I give thanks. So I’m organizing my thankful thoughts in terms of the One who was, who is, and who is to come.

This is what that looks like for me today.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." (Revelation 1:8)

GIVE THANKS FOR WHAT WAS

Lord, You’ve been with me every moment from even before my birth until now. Thank You for the life You’ve given me…

…for the family I was born into.

…for the places I’ve lived.

…for the friends I had who aren’t friends anymore.

…for the friendships that began way back then and are still with me.

…for the hardships that made me stronger.

…for the good memories that I treasure in my heart.

…for my failures that let me know how much I need You.

…for the stuff I’ve learned and the other stuff I’ve forgotten.

…You gave it all and You used it all for my good, to make me more like Jesus.

Thank You.

GIVE THANKS FOR WHAT IS

Lord, You are the Great I AM, present and in the present tense. You are the Source of all that is in my life today. Thank You…

…for providing everything from oxygen to chocolate.

…for the people I love most.

…for the folks who irritate me and teach me to practice mercy.

…for the body You’ve given me, for its beauty and faults and strengths and shortcomings.

…for the weather outside, and the fact that the earth is still on its axis in its orbit around the sun.

…for the things that sparkle in my life, displaying Your riches and lavish love.

…for the messy stuff that’s evidence of Your grace.

…for the healing You bring through the ugly and broken of the world, and the evidence that what I can see today isn’t all there is in You.

Thank You.

GIVE THANKS FOR WHAT IS TO COME

Lord, You are preparing new places for me in this life and in the next when You will come and make all things new. Thank You…

…for the purposes and plans You have for me and the ones dear to me.

…for the good You are working out through the hardships I have now.

…for all of Your promises that are “Yes” and “Amen” in Jesus.

…for the assurance that whatever the next moment brings, You are already there with me.

…for the future You have planned for my children.

…for the challenges I see on the horizon that will test my faith in You, so I can know exactly what kind of stuff my faith is made of, where I need to grow.

…for the uncertainty of the future that drives me to Your side and keeps me on my knees.

Thank You.

You, Lord, are the One who was, and is, and is to come. You are bigger than time itself, and You fill each moment with Your presence. So I thank You, Lord, for You being You. I’m grateful for what was, what is, and what is to come in my life, even the stuff I don’t understand and don’t want to be grateful for. But because it all comes through Your hands, Lord, I know it’s all working love through my life like yeast kneaded through homemade bread dough. Which reminds me that I’ve got some cooking to do, Lord, so I’ll say thank You once again, and get to it.

Happy Thanksgiving!