Spiritual Practices: Thanksgiving

I have had a few questions or conundrums about thanksgiving come up. I think I will muse a bit here about them and ask your opinion. This is a bit different from the typical notes about spiritual practices, but let’s see how it goes.

‘Tis the month in which perhaps more people are thankful, or at least considering gratitude, at least in the US. Canadians had Thanksgiving last month. I guess that is one more thing to be thankful for, more people giving thanks. I have always wondered who people give thanks to, if not to God. Non-believers may say they are thankful for good coffee, but the recipient of the thanks is missing.

Our focus in offering gratitude is precisely that it is an offering to someone. With no recipient, I don’t understand how there could be thanks. The transaction is incomplete. There is giving and receiving; someone gave that which we are grateful for, and they receive our thanks. How does that work when there is an incomplete transaction, particularly no giver of thing for which someone is grateful?

Something that I have seen lately, and it disturbs me a bit is that thanksgiving and gratitude seem to be the panacea to many things in today’s world. A quick search online will tell you that thanksgiving is the solution to anxiety, worry, aggression, envy, and greed; the list goes on. These solutions are found on Christian and secular sites alike. The Christian sites that peddle “answers” like this are what concern me. I see that we are commanded to offer thanks. That’s it. I agree that in so doing, we may have a greater connection with God, grow in faith and experience joy. The issue I take is that these are presented as a guarantee. Yet, I do not see this as one of the promises of God, nor do I see it through any example in the Bible. Have I missed a person who gave thanks and was no longer anxious?

Gratitude does increase closeness in relationship, so that is possible with God, too. But I struggle to think it is the only thing that is needed to eliminate something like anxiety, aggression, or envy. A deeper love or trust would certainly help in these cases as well. Do you see this trend toward thanksgiving as “all you need” to solve some of these issues? Or is it me?

Give thanks. But I don’t expect more after that expression of gratitude. Knowing God, there will always be more, as he lavishes upon us. But I do not expect more. I just acknowledge what he has done, who he is, and how much he loves me. I am thankful to you, Lord, for these things and who you are.

What do think of an “incomplete thanks? Or thanksgiving as the solution to issues? Drop a note below.