Why Being Thankful is not Enough

Don't get me wrong--I'm not attacking anyone or any specific idea here.  After all, thankfulness is biblical, right?  But when I try to just sit still and BE anything--thankful included--there's something in me that malfunctions.  Maybe it's because I have not learned to truly be content.  Maybe it's because stillness is such an utterly foreign sensation in this uber-active household of mine.  Maybe it's because I grew up spending many days and nights on the road, sometimes even falling asleep and waking again to the motion of wheels on pavement.

Reading One Thousand Gifts left me feeling restless and incomplete.  Honestly, I never even finished it, and maybe it would have coalesced into action at the end.  I do appreciate beauty, and it is always nice to be let in on someone else's secret thoughts of appreciative reflection.  I felt like a dunce, though, for not being in love with such a gorgeous book and such revelatory words. 

This morning reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan it hit me why.  I wanted to scream YES!!! when I read these words:

Remember the story where Jesus fed thousands of people with one boy's small lunch?  In that story, according to Matthew, Jesus gave the loaves to His disciples and then the disciples passed them out to the crowd.  Imagine if the disciples had simply held onto the food Jesus gave them, continually thanking Him for providing lunch for them.  That would've been stupid when there was enough food to feed the thousands who were gathered and hungry.

But that is exactly what we do when we fail to give freely and joyfully.  We are loaded down with too many good things, more than we could ever need, while others are desperate for a small loaf.  The good things we cling to are more than money; we hoard our resources, our gifts, our time, our families, our friends.  As we begin to practice regular giving, we see how ludicrous it is to hold on to the abundance God has given us and merely repeat the words thank you.

I'm not altogether sure what that giving is supposed to look like in my life, today specifically or in the big picture.  That's one of the things we are exploring as we open our eyes to the world around us in a new way. So yes--let's be thankful in all things, but let's not stop there!  Let's hold onto these many blessings we have with a loose grip, ready to pass them on or offer them up.