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Since Thanksgiving is this month, it seems right to me to spend November thinking about giving thanks. I have so many things to be thankful for! Like the way sunshine makes autumn leaves look like they are glowing from within. The kind and thoughtful things people say to me or do for me. Food and shelter and a good working furnace. Family and friends — all those who are still with me and those who have gone ahead to heaven.

Pop quiz: Who do we thank for these things? I’m sure you know the answer, but just in case, I’ll tell you: God. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights,” James wrote. (James 1:17)

A book I am reading says that it is good to give thanks before meals, but that we also should give thanks before everything else. Before doing a household chore, before driving our car, before writing (a letter, email, text or whatever else we may write), before — well, before everything we do in a day.

I am thankful for my writing talent, for my house and the pretty things I have used to decorate it, for enough money to pay my bills and buy food, that I have a good car and am still able to drive it, and that I am able to do my own housework, although much more slowly than I used to do. 

And those are only a few of the things I have to be thankful for. I have come to realize that even if I spend the entire month of November doing this, I will never come to the end of the list. In Lamentations it says that God’s mercies are new every morning — that means I have new things to be thankful for every day.

And what about giving thanks afterward? Thanks, that whatever we just did went well, thanks for the friend we just talked to, thanks that the store had exactly the thing we wanted, thanks that we were able to help somebody, thanks that we got home safely. Thanks for everything about our day.

And knowing God, he would like it if we also thanked other people. People often want to hold a door for me because I use a walker. I used to protest that no, I can do it myself, but after God had a quiet word in my ear one day, now I just smile and thank them. I know from my own experience that helping somebody makes me feel good, and so does being thanked. The glow of knowing they helped someone may lead them to go on and help other people. If we all practice this, the world could become a kinder and gentler place.

And this led me to face an uncomfortable fact about myself. I have trouble accepting help or accepting gifts. I was ungracious about a gift somebody gave me recently, and their reaction startled me and made me face this unfortunate character flaw. So, what if it’s something I don’t want or can’t use? They thought enough of me to get something they thought I would like, something they thought would please me. And my thoughtless comment of “I don’t really like this kind” deprived them of all their pleasure.

So now my “thanks” list includes thanking God for helping me think before I speak, and for giving me words of kindness when I do speak. I’m still struggling with it, so if I slip up around you, don’t be afraid to call me on it. One reason for Christian fellowship is so we can help one another.

I am thankful for God’s inspiration, the writing talent he gave me, and the opportunity to write this little column for our church newsletter. And I am thankful for all of you, my church family. I hope you will join me this month in giving thanks. There are many awful things going on around the world, but our God is the same yesterday and today and forever, and he gives us much to be thankful for.

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endures forever. (Psalm 107:1)