Thanksgiving

"Give thanks with a grateful heart…"

This phrase is the beginning of a chorus we sing most Sundays in our congregation at Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church.  We sing it as a response to our giving of tithes and offerings.  An underlying assumption in this line of thought may be that one can be thankful without gratitude or vice versa.    

I tend to think and believe that they go together as the old song says, "like a horse and carriage".    We just seem to not give or receive the full benefit of either without both.   To me it's gratitude that gives grounding and particularity to thanksgiving, while thanksgiving rises above the common place of our lives into the mystery of God's abundance.

So, as we all pause this week, and especially tomorrow, to raise our broad prayers of thanks may it be with hearts overflowing with the particulars of genuine gratitude for the people, places and events of our lives.

Have a Happy Grateful Thanksgiving Day!