Nothing Too Small

My preschooler came home with a precious Thanksgiving craft. He was proud of it and rightly so. It was laminated with a great picture of his energetic smile rarely captured in the wild. My wife and I will definitely be following up with the teacher to see how she pulled that off!

He wrote his name by himself. His writing has come a long way this fall. And, I wonder to myself about the many iterations of his handwriting in the future and what his grown-up signature might look like, what kind of man he will be. A large, colorful turkey was on the back made of construction paper cut-outs glued together. My wife and I want to try to keep this little craft forever.

There was also this innocent, childlike poem that struck a deep, relevant chord within me:

For flowers that bloom about our feet;
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For song of bird, and hum of bee;
For all things fair we hear and see,
Father, in heaven, we thank Thee.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do you know what else this Thanksgiving craft had on it? The year—2020.

What a year. I tremble and tear-up to write it. This year of public health crisis and political tension has also been one of great personal crisis for me and my family. And, I know that we’re not alone in that. As difficult as the reality of Covid-19 has been, for many of us there have been additional layers of trial and testing piled on. As the holidays approach, many plans have changed and opportunities to reconnect with friends and family are altered or altogether lost.

And yet, there have been flowers of so many shapes and sizes and shades this year. Who could count the blades of grass or how many hues of green God paints them with? I bet there are as many kinds of birds and songs and chirps and calls as there are people who reflect the image of God just by being who they are here in Northwest Arkansas.

Every time we say, “Thank You,” we worship.

And, there is nothing too small to say, “Thank You” for.

I won’t turn this post into an essay about the biblical and theological significance of gratitude, its neurological and psychological power, or how it more deeply bonds relationships. But, the more people study gratitude in various ways, the more powerful we realize it to be.

For now, I just want us to say, “Thank You.” Over and over again. It honors God, puts a smile on His face. It is good for us in many important ways. It brings hearts together when so many forces seem to be pulling them apart nowadays.

I desire Christians to be gratitude experts and practitioners. And, I desire to grow toward having the presence and peace of mind to say thank You for the small things like a songbird or the smell of a freshly baked cinnamon roll or to say thank You for the big things like the many opportunities to grow through the various challenges of 2020.

A simple practice or two to consider.

Everyday write a list of 10 things you are grateful for. Then, share a few with someone you love and trust. The Thanksgiving season is a great time to start. And, we will need it to help us see all of the many blessing we do have that God has so generously given, which can be so easy to overlook in a challenging year.

Use “what are some things you’re grateful for?” as a conversation starter. It’s amazing to see how that one stumps us. Be okay with the quiet and the thinking, because a muscle out of practice is being put back on line. And, once you get going in that direction and can go back and forth, it is so refreshing and much better than the talking points of our world today.

So, whatever our 2020 has been like, let’s get in the habit of “God, thank You for _________.” And, whatever our holiday season ends up being like with friends and family, let’s let our conversations be seasoned with “I’m grateful for __________.” For all the small things, the big things, and everything in between. It’s all fair game for a childlike, profound “Thank You.”