As we conclude the thankfulness challenge and the series on thankfulness, I want us to reflect on where we started, what we have learnt and how thanksgiving should be a way of life.

The hardest part of being thankful is being thankful when you are going through hard times. As 1Thessalonians 5: 16 -18 says

"Always be joyful, and never stop praying. Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do."

Whenever I think of this scripture, I am reminded that in everything we go through, God always gives us something to be thankful for. He would not have included this scripture if he did not already plan for it or have a window to be thankful for. Why would God tell us to rejoice always? He knew we would experience situations where we were not particularly thankful for, but irrespective of what our circumstances and surrounding show we needed to be thankful. This week, I want us to look at a few people in the bible who gave thanks during hard times. They did not particularly start off being “great”, but they understood the principle of thanksgiving.

Our first example is Jonah. Now Jonah has always been associated as the man who disobeyed God and got swallowed by a fish where he stayed for 3 days and nights. Do you realize that Jonah also was grateful in the belly of the fish? Chapter 2 has him recounting all the times God never forgot him and saved him in the sea, verse 9 says

“But I will offer sacrifices to You with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.”

He did not know how much longer he would be in the fish but he did know that he was not dead and the fact that he could breathe was enough for him to be thankful.

Paul was someone whose life had a lot of troubles. From being almost stoned to death, shipwrecked, beaten and put in jail, he was still thankful. Now I’m not sure how he was able to do it but I believe that he understood that being thankful was not as a result of what you are seeing but as a result of who God is. Circumstances would always change but God is unchanging. While he was in a prison in Rome, he wrote this to the church in Ephesus,

“Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:20.

He understood the true meaning of thanksgiving that is why he was able to uplift others. I pray that God gives us the understanding and strength to uplift others even when our situation is not fun or easy.

David was the prime example of someone being thankful. Everyone uses him as an example of how we should act. Now, he was not the best person, but he was called a friend of God. He went through a kidnapping of his wife and children, almost being crushed by bears, Goliath, and so many other things. He realized that without God, nothing good would have happened to him. His whole life was molded and planned by God. Majority of his psalms had Thanksgiving sprinkled in there. David understood that thanksgiving was not only to be done when we are happy, it is always to be done. Happy times, sad times, depressed times, frustrated times, not-feeling-like-it times, ALL TIMES!

Being thankful is a choice, and in my opinion, an essential muscle in the human body. The more you use it, the easier it gets to choose to be thankful. Choose to exercise that muscle today. Look at your circumstance and choose to focus on one thing to be thankful for. There is a quote by Charles Dickens I love, and it says, "Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some." As the year is drawing to a close and we have gone through so much this year with a world pandemic, let us reflect on our lives from March 2020 to today and find the little sprinkles of grace and favor we have enjoyed; and thank the Lord for them, because it is through a grateful heart that we can become more fulfilled and receive more. A quote by Robert Louis Stevenson “Keep your eyes open to your mercies. The man that forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life”.