Thankful For/Thankful To

Philippians 1:3–5 (ESV) — 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

One of my favorite dishes at Thanksgiving is broccoli rice casserole. It wasn’t a dish I remember being made while I was growing up, and I don’t know that it would be considered “traditional Thanksgiving fare.” But when I woke up this morning, and Amy was cooking it, I was immediately reminded there are so many reasons to be thankful. For broccoli rice casserole? Yes. But even more than that, I’m thankful for Amy. She has been a gift to me, to the kids, and now to our grandkids.

Those thoughts led then to a Thanksgiving day parade of sorts as one thought of gratitude was followed by the next. I’m thankful for my sons, my daughter-in-law, and, of course, my grandsons. I’m grateful to be my mother’s son (who has set an example of patient endurance for my whole family), the people I am blessed to serve as pastor (who are growing together with me in Christ’s likeness), the pastors who serve the alongside me, my peers in pastoral ministry, the coaches/mentors I’ve been blessed to learn from over these last 15, almost 16, years. I even realized I’m growing in gratitude for those who brought me pain.

But it struck me right in the middle of this personal parade of thanksgiving that today, we will be surrounded by people telling us what they are “thankful for” but never identify who they are “thankful to.”

Paul repeatedly reminded the churches he wrote to how thankful he was for them. But that gratitude wasn’t directed primarily to them. Even in the book of Philippians, a church he “loved and longed for,” his gratitude for them and the gifts they sent was not primarily directed to them. He was grateful for the Philippians, their concern for him, and the gifts they had sent to him, but his gratitude for them was gratitude to the Lord.

So, as you gather to enjoy fellowship with family, your favorite foods, and all the trappings of a day set aside to be thankful, let me encourage you to remember not only what you are thankful for but also the One to whom you owe that thankfulness.