Chances are you've had at least one special meal this week, maybe more. I hope Thanksgiving has landed somewhere near the main point of our feasting.
Let me challenge you to think about giving thanks. Perhaps if you have shared with family at all, things like "family", "friends", "pets", "provision", "health", have made your "what we're thankful for" lists.
I don't write to criticize that. I write to push you a bit further.
How much thankfulness wells up for what we can't see?
Do we truly praise the Lord for all He is? Power, knowledge, strength, wisdom, provision, Savior? Most of these things we don't see directly. We experience their benefits but haven't had the chance to see the practical side of who He is.
So, we walk by faith. Or at least that challenge lies before us. Do we give thanks for God who sees and saves? For God who walks with us when we feel completely alone? For the One who answers prayers in ways we'll never understand? Who heals relationships and gives two parties the nudge to begin talking again? For God who knows our fears, our shame, our sin, and yet forgives? For God who knows the depths of our lows, yet leads us through?
Without seeing how all of it works, can we give thanks? Without seeing some of the resolution or result, can we give thanks? Do we give thanks to God whose wisdom and timing often frustrate us?
To fail to give thanks shows we may think we have a better way. Let us give thanks, knowing He works and lives in us and can do far more than we ask or imagine. Reading the last several verses of Ephesians 3 would provide some more insight on this, and might just lead us to deeper thanksgiving - for what we can see and what we can't.