"Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God and keep the vows you made to the Most High." (Psalm 50:14 NLT)
The calendar page turns to November and my heart along with it. A new month is here, but the same hard realities are penciled in on every date.
Up north, November ushers in the cold and empty season. The trees are stripped bare; brown bark standing stark against grey skies. The fields have been foraged; black earth overturned like fresh graves. The wind whips in and the rain gives way to sleet and snow.
Still, the barns are full and the corn is piled high in the grain elevators. Accounts have been settled at the local coop and the combines are put up for the winter. It’s time to celebrate another harvest and give God thanks for 365 more days of provision.
How do we give thanks when the barn is still empty? When the accounts can’t clear? When there is not bounty? Scripture reminds us, some thanksgiving is a sacrifice. Gratitude is not the natural posture of our heart in hard seasons. We may even grunt a little as we urge ourselves from the recliner of complaint into the emotional exertion of Thanksgiving.
God deserves thanksgiving with or without resources. There’s no minimum net worth for giving Him our gratitude. Even if we are left with nothing, He remains worthy. He has still provided salvation from sin, something that Psalm 49:7 reminds us, no man can purchase. God has long dealt with the most destructive issue in our story AND He calls us sons and daughters. That’s enough reason to give thanks for the rest of our days.
Sometimes, my friend, Thanksgiving is a sacrifice. This stark time of year always brings the pilgrims to mind for me. These hardy people dug ten graves for every home erected that first winter. Consider the Mayflower Passenger manifest; nearly every family affected by loss, some family names extinguished altogether. These are the folks that found gratitude to be essential. They knew they could not set out into another long winter without first giving God thanks for sustaining them thus far. Sometimes Thanksgiving is a sacrifice.
"Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines, even though the olive crop fails and the field lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation." (Habakkuk 3:17-18 NLT)
Rob tucked this scripture into a love letter he sent me twenty-six years ago this month, shortly before he asked my hand in marriage. He warned me that ministers didn’t make much and if I accepted his proposal, I’d likely be agreeing to a life of less. I blithely agreed. I didn’t have any idea what it might look like to spend decade after decade in an un-ending economic downturn. Even still, I wouldn’t trade our marriage for a million dollars in the bank. I wouldn’t swap our story for someone else’s fairytale. I know what we have and I know Who’s we are and I’m still grateful.
This year, Thanksgiving will likely look different. Things are thin at the Thoreson homestead. We are working harder than ever to make ends meet. Two kids in college times a tiny church with extra employment on the side; there’s not much left at the end of each month. There are greyed silhouettes in our family tree and the barn is emptier than it used to be, but we remain thankful. We will not rob God of the glory He’s due. He has seen us through yet another season and we will give Him thanks and praise.
"Be thankful in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you who belong to Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT)
Lord, please forgive our grumbling hearts. Thank You for Your provision thus far. We continue to trust in You. Amen.