The Power of Thankfulness...

            ...To the Only One Worthy of Receiving It

           With a tight Sunday morning schedule, I braved the cold to check the water level in the livestock tank. Sure enough, as I approached the tank, I could see it was brim-full (I’d filled it the night before to save time). That prompted me to offer thanks to the Lord for the six-decade-old livestock tank Dad installed in cement all those years ago making it next to impossible to replace. 

The Vintage Livestock Tank

Looking at the side of the tank, I rejoiced at the dryness of the areas Ben, my brother-in-law, had treated to ensure no leakage in the vintage tank. My memory recalled how he worked diligently to clear the area around the tank on one of the hottest Saturdays of the past summer and then fixed the leaks.

One area treated by my
brother-in-law during the
 summer. The patch had been
done about 10 years ago by
Hubert Hutchens, a dear
friend and neighbor.

           As I turned toward the house, I spotted the frost-free hydrant installed by Jim Hutchison in 2012, the first summer following Dad’s first stroke. Jim was glad to replace the old hydrant so my watering concerns during the upcoming winter would be minimized, especially eliminating my chopping ice.

The frost-free hydrant 
installed by Jim Hutchison

            On the coldest of winter days, my practice of purposeful thankfulness seemed to diminish and sometimes abolished complaining. A welcomed offshoot of counting my blessings resulted in warming my heart and even seemed to warm the rest of me.

            A few years ago, I read of an agnostic author who battled debilitating anxiety. She shared her story of difficult situations and events in her past. Bottom line, she found practicing daily common thankfulness a much better option than the medications she had been prescribed (I do not condone discontinuing prescribed anxiety medication).  Yet she emphasized in several paragraphs that this was NOT thankfulness to God. It was just common thankfulness.

            The elimination of God in her daily self-care came as no surprise based on this author’s world view of the concept of God as a crutch. Yet I could not wrap my mind around her thankfulness without a recipient.

             I did a quick survey of verses in the Bible related to thankfulness. Scores of verses on thankfulness, encouraging thankfulness, illustrating thankfulness or praise, or decrying ingratitude were found in Scripture.

            I agreed wholeheartedly with the agnostic writer on the necessity of daily thankfulness, but I refused sharply her need to exclude God, the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of humankind. The God full of lovingkindness, mercy and grace deserved the agnostic author's moment-by-moment offerings of thankfulness for only He is worthy.*

            Lord, when I offer thankfulness to You, I sense You are supporting and carrying me through challenging times. I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works. (Psalm 9:1) With all my heart, I thank You for the gift of salvation in Jesus. Grant me an even closer walk each day with You. In the precious name of Jesus, Amen.

*G.K. Chesterton, a gifted English writer of the early 20th century, who profoundly influenced C.S. Lewis's conversion to Christianity, once addressed thankfulness and atheism. He said, "The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank."