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Giving Thanks - A benefit to us as well as to whomever we give thanks.
Thanksgiving Day celebrations usually involve many kinds of food, including dishes that represent local and family traditions. Giving thanks to those who prepare and set forth the food, as well as to those who provide the location and who offer the invitations, is common courtesy. Giving thanks to God for what we receive at a Thanksgiving meal is even more well deserved but only occurs to those of us who believe that God is the source of all goodness.
Just as there is no law commanding us to thank family members or friends who arrange for a Thanksgiving Day meal, we are not obliged to give thanks to God for that specific celebration or for anything else. However, when we let opportunities pass by and do not give thanks to people or to God, we lose a precious moment for making an outlay from the unlimited supply of goodness of which we are capable. It is like leaving a delightful meal with family and friends only to engage in some personal activity on our own. There is no joy or more personally fulfilling experience than giving thanks.
For a positive reflection, we can review our recent past and notice that at no cost to us we received peaceful contentment in those small incidents when we gave thanks to people for the good things they had done for us. In an even deeper way, whenever we chose to thank God for something recent or ongoing, our appreciation grew for whatever it was for which we gave thanks. Expressing gratitude confirms and affirms the goodness we have received, much like savoring a favorite food instead of merely eating it as something of no interest that happened to be within reach.
We do not create our affinity for giving thanks, nor the positive consequences for doing so. Rather, we are created by God who is all-good, and we resonate like the strings of a well-tuned musical instrument when we acknowledge goodness in other elements of God’s creation, especially fellow humans, but also in food, all necessities of life, and everything that is beautiful, true, and good. We have within our ordinary capacities the possibility of exercising honesty and generosity whenever we give thanks, for it is from us a personal gift of integrity and of love. We are not required to give thanks, but when we do so truthfully and with appropriate care for those whom we thank, we become more like the images of God we are created to be.
Thank God that we can give thanks, for doing so makes us fully human, moving us closer to our ultimate purpose in life: union with God who is love.
Last Updated 11/22/2025