Give thanks to who?

The collards are cooking and the pastichio is baking and the coffee is just right. It is hard not to be thankful.

Early this morning I realized that I had forgotten to get any pork for the collards, so, much to my disliking, I girded my loins and took a trip to Wal-Mart. It was amazingly quiet there. I guess everyone else had enough sense to buy what they needed yesterday.  But as always I ran into a friend, one of those people who add color to your life. We spoke for a moment.  Then I went to the checkout where the cashier greeted me and smiled at my purchase, immediately knowing what I must have forgotten, and wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving, even as she was beginning a full day of work on the line.  In the parking lot I saw an old friend across the way, a friend who has worked there for years gathering buggies, who threw up his hand and yelled "Happy Thanksgiving."  He always greets me as he works, whether it be in the heat of summer, or the cold of winter, rain or shine.

As I left to head home I thanked God for them.  But oddly the prayer was not very satisfying. It didn't seem like enough.  Odd.

The past couple of weeks I have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about what I have to be thankful for.  The list is endless once I take a little time with the exercise and get on a roll. The collards, pistachio and coffee are just the tip of the iceberg. A really nice tip, but just the tip all the same.

But this morning I was struck with a thought.  Shocking I know.

For days, really for my whole life, in times such as these,I have concentrated on what I am thankful for and have been quite impressed with my faithfulness to the discipline.

Maybe it is time to think more about who I am thankful to.

It changes things,  this shift in focus about gratitude, from thankful for to thankful to.  My list suddenly changes from a list heavy  with things, to a list primarily of names.

To think about who I am thankful to makes me remember, maybe even admit, that the blessings in my life, the goodness that I enjoy, are grace.  They are not something I earned or deserve.  More often than not the contrary is true.  To remember who I am thankful to is humbling even as it blesses.  I cannot fool myself that I am somehow responsible and deserving of the things for which I am thankful. Someone else has offered me graces and gifts.

And that is what I am thinking about this morning.

Of course I give thanks to God.  And the truth is, it was during that early morning conversation as I was tearing and washing collards, putting stuff on to cook that God asked the question.

"It's really nice that you are thanking me, but what about those folks at Walmart, and all the other flesh and blood people, who have loved you, corrected you, taught you, listened to you,  helped you, made you laugh, or worked so that your life could be better?  When are you going to start thanking them?  They have been doing my work for me, for you."

It is not always easy being in a relationship with someOne who is always right.

So I began to think about it.  It changes everything, what God has asked this morning.  Because if I take it seriously, I know that I must be thankful to too many people, many of whom I would like to not have to thank.  Folks that are disagreeable, or that disagree with me or I disagree with them.  Outrageous people. Conservatives. Republicans. IRS agents. You get the idea. Your list of disagreeable people may be different than mine. It might even include me.  But, the idea is the same.

God wants us to find that thing in each other that is graceful, that is giving, that is good.  Because we are all creations of that loving God to whom we all give thanks. And He wants us to be thankful to them.

Even white policemen or black thugs. Muslims or conservative Christians, agnostics or atheists or Bible thumpers. . Tea Partiers or radical liberals. Felons or saints.

It is too easy to simply give thanks to God for the goodness in everyone, although that is important.  It is time to give thanks for all of God's creation.

But just as important to give thanks to that creation, human and otherwise, for as little or as much of God's grace as they have given with their existence.

How do we do that?

I don't know.

But I guess that's something I have to think about now. And I know it will change things.

Happy Thanksgiving.  Thanks be to God.

And thanks to you too.

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