In All Things, Give Thanks
Several years ago, I taught a class on Spiritual Formation at a university. As part of that class, I required the students to keep what I called, a Thankful Journal. I wanted them to find at least one thing every day for which they were thankful and write something about it. It was an effort to incorporate an attitude of gratitude into their lives. I challenged them to give thanks for the people and things they commonly ignored. When I gave the students that assignment, they—most in their first year of college—looked at me like I was from another planet. So, I tried to bring the project into their world. When I asked how many of them lived in one of the college dormitories, a majority of raised hands indicated they did. “Have you noticed the person, the custodian, who cleans your dorm hall?” I asked. The class was silent. “Do you know his/her name?” Not one student did. “Can anyone tell me anything about that person?” Again, blank stares from the students. “Have you ever stopped to thank that person?” None had. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, for after all, they had been on campus no more than a week. But they got the point: we tend to overlook that which isn’t important to us. And what gets ignored, gets forgotten. And never thanked. This Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, make an attempt, amidst getting that meal ready, cleaning up after guests, and posing for the annual family picture, to give thanks for a few of those things we don’t see because they’ve been forgotten, things we take for granted. I read about a grade school teacher who asked her students to list what they believed were the Seven Wonders of the World. A few minutes later, they turned in their answers. The teacher listed the answers in order of what the students thought were the most popular. The list went like this: The Great Pyramids, The Grand Canyon, The Great Wall of China, The Panama Canal, The Taj Mahal, The Empire State Building, St. Peter’s Basilica. Then the teacher noticed one little girl who had failed to turn in her assignment; she was still struggling with it. So, the teacher went to her directly and asked her what she had put down for her answer. “There are so many wonders,” she said, “I just can’t decide.” …
