GIVING THANKS FOR THANKLESS THINGS
It's not very hard to be thankful for obvious things like our families, our health, or the blessings that come into our lives. But what about the things that we might not think of so easily, like the roof over our head, the clothes on our back and the food in our stomach? These things can become thankless things to us.
And then there are some things we might not think of at all-mainly because we don't consider them things to be thankful for at all. Let's take a look at some of the 'thankless' things in our lives that we should be thankful for.
1) Things we take for granted.
It's very easy to take everyday things for granted. We often don't think about the fact that we can walk or hear or see; we typically pay it no mind. That is, until we come across someone who doesn't have those privileges.
[Story about the man putting on Enchroma glasses to be able to see color for the first time].
The things we take for granted are realized for the treasure they are when we see someone who doesn't have them. We take for granted our ability to walk until we see someone in a wheelchair. We take for granted the ability to see or hear until we come across a blind or deaf person. We don't think of thanking God for the everyday privileges we have until either we see someone who doesn't have them or else when they are taken from us. We don't know what we've got 'til it's gone.
One of the things we take for granted are people. We just assume they will always be there so we don't think to be all that vocal about how special they are to us. We take for granted their friendship and kindness; we take for granted the special things they do for us and all the love they show us.
Beth and I try to do that for each other. We thank each other for doing the mundane things like laundry or dishes or taking out the trash. Yet at the same time I fall short in thanking her for taking care of the shopping and the finances. The problem is I think of it from time to time but fail to verbalize it. People want to feel loved and appreciated so if you're thankful for someone in your life please tell them.
Paul did that. In letters to the Corinthians and Colossians and the Thessalonians you will find him saying, "I thank God for you". For instance, this is what he said in 1st Thess. 3:9, "How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?"
Can you imagine what that must've done to those Christians to have Paul write that about them? What would it do for you if someone you cared about said this to you? "I can't thank God enough for you; for all the joy I have because of you." Paul didn't hold back in expressing his thankfulness to people and we shouldn't either.
But even more than just verbally saying 'thanks' we need to show that we're thankful. Send a card, buy a gift, take them somewhere nice-show people that you appreciate them. It's easy to take things and people for granted; it's easy for these things to become thankless things.
We're either not mindful of them or if we are we're not expressing thanks for them. That's why it's so important that we say and show our gratitude for the small things that really aren't so small and the people who are really more significant than we will ever truly realize.
2) Hard work.
It's typical for us to complain about our jobs. And if your work is stressful or difficult you might find even less to be thankful about. The job is demanding, the pay is minimal and the boss never acknowledges your hard work. So, you come home every day just glad that it's over.
Even if you're a stay at home mom you may still find yourself dealing with the same thoughts-the job is demanding, the pay is minimal and no one ever thanks you for a job well done.
And then there are the things in life that don't come easy. You give your blood, sweat and tears, countless hours of time and sacrifice for the things that come easier to some other people. It's not fair. Why should I bust my hump when the brown-noser gets the promotion over me? What's the incentive to work hard when my annual raise amounts to peanuts? What's to be thankful about in any of that?
Ecc. 5:18-20, "Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart."
So Solomon says it is good for a person to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor. Notice Solomon didn't say anything here about finding satisfaction only if you're recognized for it. Only find satisfaction in your labor if you get richly compensated for it by the boss. He says that when God gives us wealth or makes us prosperous, which doesn't necessarily mean riches; it can mean simply funds or success, and he enables us to be happy in our work it is a gift.
And notice that Solomon highlights the advantage-that my focus isn't on the worries of life but on God; who makes my heart glad. Hard work does a person good. It makes you feel like you've accomplished more when you've put more into it. When you have to work hard to achieve something it makes the reward that much sweeter.
They have this thing now called a participation trophy. What's up with that? I'm all for thanking everyone for their effort but what incentive does it give someone to work hard when at the end everyone is going to get the same reward-regardless of what they put into it? Granted, it sucks to lose but I'm not so sure the right response is to make everyone a winner. Guess what? When these kids get out into the real world they will have a rude awakening when they realize that everyone is not a winner and things are not going to be handed to them quite so easily.
I read an article from a couple years ago about a public school district 50 miles north of San Francisco whose students can now earn a passing grade with a score of 20. The board accepted the idea that students with zeros get demoralized, so the offer of a readily obtainable passing grade will keep them from giving up. Only one board member disagreed. He said, "Anytime you lower the bar, it hurts. You just let people do a more mediocre job."
The idea that improvement results from lowering the standard is preposterous. Instead of taking the demoralized student and patiently and lovingly working with them to improve their skills to a normal passing grade the trade that for merely motivating him to do just a little bit better. So what happens when he gets to the score of twenty? Will he then be motivated to get better than 20? Why? He passed; that's all that matters to some students.
Unfortunately that's all that mattered to me. If all I had to do was get a 20 to pass I could achieve that with little effort and probably wouldn't have bothered trying to get much higher than that. I would've studied less than I already did and therefore not learn as much as I could have if the passing grade were much higher-forcing me to try to learn more.
Having to work hard at school or around the house or at a job or to achieve a goal is something to be thankful for because it causes us to be more disciplined and experience a greater satisfaction when the accomplishments come.
3) Trials.
Trials? Are you serious? What in the world is there to be thankful for in that? Dealing with a hardship is definitely something we would put in the thankless category. That is, until we look at what the bible has to say about them.
James 1:2-4, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. Sounds like an oxy-moron, does it not? That has to be one of the strangest phrases in all of scripture. I don't think James is implying that when we face a trial we need to respond by jumping up and down shouting, 'hooray!'. How in the world can facing a trial bring joy? James explains the joy comes in what the trial produces.
In order to ascertain the value of something it must be tested. Consumer Reports tests products to see how good they are. We receive tests in school to determine how well we know the material. Our faith is no different. We go through tests to see how strong our faith is.
And we need to keep in mind that we're not called to be joyful because a hardship came into our lives. 1st Thes. 5:18 says give thanks in all circumstances. We might not be thankful for our trials but we can be thankful in them. Why? Despite the pain and grief there is still something to be thankful for. I'm thankful because it wasn't worse. I'm thankful because it taught me something. I'm thankful because it made me a stronger person. I'm thankful because it brought me closer to God and others.
Verses like these are so important for us to remember because typically we wouldn't be thankful for having to deal with hardships and trials. It's typical to be bitter and angry over such things. And not that we aren't going to experience these emotions but in the midst of our pain the ray of light can be what we stand to gain from it. The development of our character. The strengthening of our faith. The testimony of our courage. The stability of our hope.
So when life takes a turn for the worst we can still be thankful-thankful that we have God to cling to in the midst of it. Habakkuk realized this. Listen to what he wrote near the end of his book. Habakkuk 3:17-18, "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD,I will be joyful in God my Savior."
What? That's like us saying, "Though I haven't a dollar to my name and I don't know where my next meal is coming from, still I will rejoice in God my Savior." The average person hearing you say this would conclude that you need some serious help. How could Habakkuk say this?
It all has to do with those last three words: 'God my Savior'. If we have nothing else but our salvation then we have everything. If we have nothing but our God to cling to then we have a reason to rejoice. If we have Christ we have hope. If we have hope we have what we need to persevere through the trials of life.
Rom. 5:3-5, "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
When dealing with a hardship, if we're willing to look for what God wants to do in and through us then we will experience blessings despite the pain and we will experience triumphs despite the difficulties. If we have the right attitude then we will be better off.
Hans Seyle, a stress researcher, claims that two attitudes more than any other influence the quality of everyday life, and on these two emotions, depend our peace of mind, our feelings of security or insecurity, of fulfillment or frustration, in short, the extent to which we can make a success of life. The most destructive emotion is revenge. But in contrast, "among all the emotions, there is one which more than any other, accounts for the absence or presence of stress in human relations: that is the feeling of gratitude."
Mike McAdams visited his wife, Cheryl in the intensive care unit. "How is she?" an anxious friend asked as he exited her unit. "it's touch and go, Mike replied. "She recognized me. We prayed together and held hands. And then we quoted the passage about thanksgiving in the book of James that says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds..."
"You know," he added, "it's almost impossible to be anxious and thankful at the same time." We might consider hardships to be thankless things but when we see what can be gained from them we can actually find some reasons to be thankful.
