"Praise be to you,
O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O
LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the
splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the
kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you
are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and
give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your
glorious name.”
I Chronicles 29: 10 – 13
While
the turkey is cooking and before you are invaded by family and friends, let me
share some thoughtful and inspiring quotes about thankfulness from some great
minds and hearts.
Matthew
Henry, the great Bible scholar, author and preacher was once ambushed and
robbed. How did he respond to this harrowing experience? He said, "I thank Thee first because I was never
robbed before; second, because although they took my purse they did not take my
life; third, although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it
was I who was robbed and not I who robbed."
"If the only prayer you said in
your whole life was, 'thank you,' that would suffice."
~ Meister Eckhart
"When we were children we were
grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not
grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?" ~ G.K. Chesterton
"If you are not
content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled." ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon
"We pray for the
big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really
not small) gifts. How can God entrust great things to one who will not
thankfully receive from Him the little things?" ~
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“A thankful heart cannot be cynical.” ~ A.W.
Tozer
"I would maintain
that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness
doubled by wonder." ~ G.K.
Chesterton
"Receive every day
as a resurrection from death, as a new enjoyment of life; meet every rising sun
with such sentiments of God's goodness, as if you had seen it, and all things,
new-created upon your account: and under the sense of so great a blessing, let
your joyful heart praise and magnify so good and glorious a Creator."
~ William Law
"Gratitude as a
discipline involves a conscious choice. I can choose to be grateful even when
my emotions and feelings are still steeped in hurt and resentment. It is
amazing how many occasions present themselves in which I can choose gratitude
instead of a complaint. I can choose to be grateful when I am criticized, even
when my heart still responds in bitterness. I can choose to speak about
goodness and beauty, even when my inner eye still looks for someone to accuse
or something to call ugly."
~ Henri Nouwen
So, how will you express your
thanks to God today?
Who do you owe some “thank yous”
today?
When will
you express those?
How will you
express them?