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A Reason for
Thankfulness! |
| A wonderful thing about the holiday season is the rather forced opportunity it affords us to
ponder being thankful and to communicate our caring and thankfulness to others. As we
enter this season, in reflecting on our year past and what has gone on in our lives, a question that we might pose
to ourselves is, “What is it that we are thankful for?”
Often we see pictures of Christmas or Thanksgiving on greeting cards and there’s lots of food, with nice healthy people laughing and smiling, and maybe lots of family around. If that is our vision and identity of what we are thankful for in life, what is it that we are saying about those who are not in good health? Maybe there is some health concern that is going on with you right now or with a loved one. Can you have thanks in your life? What about those who do not have family around? Maybe a loved one passed on to heaven this past year, or for some painful reason, like a divorce, there are not lots of family around. Surely this holiday season there will be those that go hungry, or need medicine, or shelter, just some basic needs of life. So is the basis for our thanks inside founded on “having plenty?” And if we don’t have these, is there then no reason for thanks? ____________________________ Try and picture a German pastor named Martin Rinkart. He is pastor in 1636 (just 15 years after the Pilgrims' first winter of 1621 here in the New World), and he is living in a part of Europe that has been ravaged by a brutal and bloody war. The darkness of this war has brought much death, and not just from battles but also from the disease and hunger that has resulted from a lack of food production. Pastor Rinkart is said to have buried up to 5,000 people from his parish and the surrounding parishes in just one year. That is a staggering number. And yet, in the heart of all that pain, in the middle of real misery for people that you could reach out and touch, Martin Rinkart sat down at his table one day and wrote these words… “Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices / who wondrous things has done and in whom his world rejoices / Who, from our mother’s arms, hath led us on our way / with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today… Here is an example of a man who knew that having a thank-filled heart comes from knowing of the love that God has shown to us already. This is a peace inside that is not based on outward circumstances that might very quickly change. We have the promise of a home in heaven because of what Christ our Savior has already done. This is a gift from Him. We can always, always be thankful for that. God’s real and true love is yours… ALWAYS, no matter what winds of change might blow in the world around! In reflecting on your heart of thanks this year, know that the amount of “stuff” that we have might change, our health might not stick with us, friends and family and other people that we share life with might change. But, your relationship as a loved and cherished child of God… will never change! That is an identity that you can always, always be thankful for! This holiday season, let a heart of gratitude and a sense of thanksgiving overwhelm you. And let your identity as a loved and forgiven child of God bring peace inside and joy to all your days! Rev. Joe Nollet is pastor at Hope Lutheran Church in Storrs |