Giving Thanks

The mountain man and his 3 "mountain goats" are going backpacking for Thanksgiving. We're setting a few traditions aside as we set out on the trail for some quality time together. We are going to Hemmed In Hollow in Northwest Arkansas. We will bask together in the glories of a 200 foot waterfall and hearts that flow freely with thanksgiving.

Now the nature of a waterfall -- be it Hemmed in Hollow, The Niagra Falls, or Multnomah Falls -- is that the water falls. That is the nature of waterfalls. The water never remains where it has been. It does not flow uphill or upstream. Each surrenders itself to the forces of gravity and is in constant flow. We can talk about the conditions that contribute to the waterfalling, like the annual rainfall and snowmelt, but in the end the nature remains the same: The water falls.

In similar fashion the nature of thanksgiving is that thanks are given. As waterfalls fall so also thanks flow freely. That is the nature of thanksgiving. Thanks never remain where they have been. They do not stop or back up along the way. Thanks leap. They dance. They descend, ascend and gush forth! Thanks are alive. Like the falling water surrendering itself to the forces of gravity thanks surrender themselves to the forces of a grateful heart, a cup that overflows, and more of God's mercies than we can count or imagine. The nature of a waterfall is that the water falls, and the nature of thanksgiving is that thanks are given.

We might talk about the reasons for our thanksgiving in the same way we talk about rainfall and snowmelt. There is good health and good circumstances. There are our children and grandchildren and their successes in music and school and sports. There are our homes, the food on our table, and the clothes we enjoy. There is our nation, our freedom, and the opportunity to vote for what we desire and what we do not.

But what if we had none of these things? Could we still give thanks? Thanks are not so much a matter of what you have, but what you are giving. Thanksgiving does not ask "What do you have?" Thanksgiving asks "Are you thanful?"

Our nation is facing economic challenges and the changing of leadership. Would we still give thanks? Each of us is aging and few of us enjoy the same health we did a year ago. Would we still give thanks? Each of us has said "good bye" to those we love and seen the change and hurt in the lives of loved ones. Would we still give thanks? We cherish our children and grandchildren, but how many of us are anxious about their surroundings and the choices they sometimes make? Would we still give thanks?

1 Chronicles 16:8 encourages thansgiving as a matter of who God is and what God does. "Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done."

Psalm 100:4 says that thanksgiving abounds in the presence of God. "Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to the Lord and call on His name."

1 Corinthians 15:57 gives cause for thanksgiving even in the midst of death. "The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Thanks are not a matter of what you have. Thanks are a matter of what you are giving. Like a water fall thanks flow freely. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Be joyful always; pray continuously; give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus." God's will is that we give thanks. At the feeding of the five thousand Jesus was surrounded by anxious and hungry people. He took two fish and five loaves of bread, looked to His Father in fatih, and gave thanks, John 6:11.

What if we had nothing? What if we had nothing at all -- if it were all taken from us? We would still give thanks to God for He is good and His mercy endures forever. With Job we could say, "I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And even if my flesh is destroyed yet with my own eyes I will see God," Job 19:25.

Could we have more? Could we have better? We already have more than enough, more than we can count, and more than we deserve. We have what God gives and for all of it we give thanks.

I'm heading off to the Falls with my 3 little "mountain goats." We will marvel at the wonders of falling water. Where does it come from and why does it never stop? But we will marvel more at God's mercies which are new every morning, and for these we will give thanks.

I love you. Blessed thanksgiving. Jeff on the mountains.