Thankfulness Requires an Object

Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving.  Personally, I love this holiday.  It’s my favorite, and my family’s as well.  We like it because it seems so much more pure than the commercialization that has affected Christmas. 

Two elements dominate Thanksgiving.  One is that we are “thankful” (hence the name!) and the other involves food.  We first express thanks for our blessings and then we illustrate how blessed we are by filling our table with a bounty of nourishment.

In church on Thanksgiving, our pastor mentioned a specific point that has stayed with me for almost a week now.  It is simply this:  “Thankfulness requires an object.”  Just to say you’re thankful is fine, but WHO are you thanking?  Do you even think about it? 

I’ve often said “how blessed” I am or “how thankful,” and even though I’ve thought that it is because of God I wonder how many times I’ve said it aloud.  I’ve carried this thought through with me over the last week, and it is something I will work on the entire year.  Not just for that one day of overeating, church, and Packer football.