Thanksgiving Focus Series

You will, no doubt, think me strange for saying it, but I am thankful for my ignorance. It

gives me so much to be thankful for. My vast ocean of ignorance is my playground where I

can fish for new insights, and I can dive for the sunken treasure of golden truths that lay

hidden in God's Word. Paul said, "Now I know in part and I see through a glass darkly."

That is why even when he was in prison he wrote, "Bring me the books and the parchments

for I must be to my dying day growing in my knowing of what God has revealed." Paul was

ever pressing on, for there is never an end to discovery in God's Word.

The continents have all been discovered. The oceans and seas have all been discovered.

Even the planets have all been discovered. But there will never come a day in history when it

will ever be said that the exploration of God's Word has ceased, for all truth and wisdom

have been discovered. Because God is infinite, discovery is eternal, and that is one of things

I am most grateful for, for I desire to make discoveries forever. This is not to say that this

should also be your desire. The palmist David says in verse 5, "He satisfies my desires with

good things." You desires may be altogether different. It may be torture for you to do

research and seek to discover new insights. That is okay, for God gave the body many

members with a variety of gifts and interests. What satisfies my desires may not do so for

you. It is whatever renews our youth like the eagles that satisfies our particular desires.

In other words, you are most thankful to God for those things that make you feel young

and alive again. Those things that fill you with energy and enthusiasm are the real high of

thankfulness, and they are the things that renew your spirit. What do you anticipate doing

when you are free to make the choice of how you use your time? That is a life renewing

activity, and when you want to be filled with the spirit of thanksgiving think of that desire

that is satisfied.

This will vary because all of us have many things in common, but we thank God for those

specific desires that make you soar with the eagles. These are the ones you need to focus on

to be filled with gratitude. This Psalm is loaded with examples that fit all of us at various

times in our lives. In verse 2 he says to his soul, "Forget not all his benefits." We are not

likely to forget those things that give us an eagle high, but there are many other things that

we can forget if we do not give effort to remember them. The poet mixes in the trivial and

the tremendous to recall to our memory that we have endless reasons to be thankful.

Thank you, God, for a hundred things-

For the flower that blooms,

for the bird that sings,

For the sun that shines,

And the rain that drops,

For ice cream and raisins and lollipops.

Thank you God for the gift of time

For the clocks that tick,

and the bells that chime,

For days gone by,

And future cheers,

For seasons, and moments, for hours and years.

Thanks for the people who give life pizazz

For folks who play sports,

those who act and play jazz,

For friends and for families,

For folks of all races,

For hands that give help and for bright smiling faces.

Thanks for the planet you give as our home

For the sky with its clouds,

for the oceans' white foam,

For the creatures and critters,

The lakes, falls and fountains,

For hills and for valleys, for canyons and mountains.

Thank you, God, for the gift of your Son-

For the love Jesus shared,

for the battle He won

Over death, for the promise,

That He would be near

To lead and to guide and to hold us so dear.

Thank you, God, for a hundred things-

For autumn and pumpkins,

for dragonfly wings

For Thanksgiving dinners,

For seasides and shore,

For a hundred things, and a thousand things more.

Author unknown

The poet has captured the idea of this Psalm by ranging all the way from the God

centered level of grace, forgiveness and salvation to the more self-centered level of personal

desires. The point is, the reasons for thanksgiving is endless. Variety is the spice of life

because God is the God of variety, and He has given so many benefits that there is no way to

become overly thankful. Whoever heard of someone say of another, "He is just too