David A. Seamands tells about the day in the early thirties, William Stidger and a fellow pastor sat in a restaurant talking about the worldwide depression--the suffering people, rich committing suicide, the jobless. The pastor said, "In two or three weeks I have to preach on Thanksgiving Day. What can I say?" Stidger said it was like the Spirit of God answered that question: "Why not thank those people who've been a blessing in your life and affirm them during this terrible time?" He thought of an English teacher who had instilled in him a love of literature and verse, affecting all his writing and preaching. So he wrote to her.
In a matter of days he got a reply in the feeble scrawl of the aged. "My Dear Willy: I can't tell you how much your note meant to me. I am in my eighties, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely, and like the last leaf of autumn lingering behind. You'll be interested to know that I taught in school for more than 50 years, and yours is the first note of appreciation I ever received. It came on a blue, cold morning, and it cheered me as nothing has done in many years."
There is a list of people I am thankful, and some of them I was able to thank for the impact they've had in my life, but I encountered some of them back so long ago I have no idea how to contact them, and some may be deceased by now. I thank God for a praying mother who not only talked her faith, but walked it before her children. I am thankful for the teachers who truly made a difference in my life. There was a 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Reasoner, at little Hazeltine School in Henderson, CO, who helped me learn to read. I was hopelessly behind and struggling. Mrs. Reasoner kept me after school and had me reading out loud while she was doing some of her other work. I was stumbling and fumbling so badly that I began to cry. I will never forget that woman who sat down beside me and cried with me. Her investment made it possible for me to eventually graduate from college. I never got to thank her. The list of people who have positively impacted my life would more than fill this page. Suffice it to say, I have truly been blessed by some wonderful folks.
In light of debris from hurricanes and the floods, earthquakes and the tough financial crisis, we need to find ways to be thankful today. We may more closely resemble what Alice Johnson wrote: "When I was a young mother with two preschoolers, I was often overwhelmed. One night I fell into bed, exhausted. I poured out my frustrations to God. 'The kids won't mind, the house is a mess, my husband doesn't seem to care …'--the list went on. Suddenly, a voice said to my heart, 'Which one do you want me to take away?' Everything I was complaining about was precious to me. Immediately, I began to thank God for everything on my list--something I continue to do now as a grandmother."
Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life is a book that is several hundred years old, and the language is a bit out of date, but it made a difference in John Wesley's life. In it William Law wrote, "Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms, or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice, but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God willeth, who received everything as an instance of God's goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise God for it."
I am sure that by now most, if not all have realized that Thanksgiving is about more than gratefully reciting a list of THINGS, most of which we could do without. Perhaps we would do well this year to pick out some of those people who have touched our lives and express our gratitude to them. Email is OK, but something more personal seems appropriate. Imagine a world where during one 7-day period everyone on the face of the earth would have someone say, "Thanks for the special way you have touched my life". I have a feeling it could change a lot of "blue days".
Certainly, we want to thank God in the spirit of the little fellow who prayed, "And God, please take care of yourself—if anything happens to You we are in a real mess!"
