Twenty years ago, our grandson Caleb came to live with us. Two years old at the time, he is now a college freshman. At two, his vocabulary was still pretty limited. But one phrase he had down pat was “thank you.” He pronounced it, thank-um!”
When we first brought Caleb into our family, his gratitude for even the most minor things was almost infectious. Especially chicken. Caleb loved chicken. He still does. Even at two, he knew what the Kentucky Fried Chicken sign meant. When we pulled into the local KFC and Caleb spotted the sign, a joyous “thank-um” erupted from his booster car seat. It was so effervescent that “thank-um” has come down through the years to be a part of our family vocabulary.
This holiday weekend will be brimming with things for most of us to be exuberant about. Most of us will bow our heads on Thanksgiving Day with heartfelt prayers over the good food before us. We’ll be grateful for the company of family and friends. Some will settle in for serious football games, others for serious shopping.
At some point, I’ll slip into the kitchen for one of my favorite post-Thanksgiving guilty pleasures: piles of sliced smoked turkey on thick slices of Charlotte’s homemade sourdough bread, along with mayo, Swiss cheese, cranberry sauce, lettuce, tomato, and ground pepper. And I will surely be thankful.
However, at some point between Thanksgiving and Christmas, my enthusiasm will inevitably lag. The constant war between the Christmas gift list and my credit card balances, the ever-decreasing sunlight, and the onset of winter’s freezing everything in sight will conspire to chip away at my Thanksgiving joy. And then there is the fragile condition of our inflated economy and the terrible encroaching dangers from the world at large. Some days, I feel like peeking out the window just to see what chapter of Revelation we’re doing today.
But in this, I’m wrong. It doesn’t matter what chapter of Revelation we’re doing. I should remember how the story ends. It doesn’t matter what I feel or what particular emotion claws at me. It doesn’t even matter what season it is. The only thing that should matter is that if I wake up and draw breath in the morning, there is only one suitable reaction on my part: a heartfelt “thank-um” to my Father in heaven for His unending, undying love for me. And maybe for turkey sandwiches too.
What has God done that you need to be genuinely thankful for today?
(Photo courtesy of pixabay and Rasterlocke.)
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Kevin Spencer likes to play with words, help others play with them, and is privileged to be a staff writer for Christian Devotions. He lives with his beautiful blessing of a wife, Charlotte, and his amazing collegiate grandson, Caleb.