Thanks GIVING

She was 34 years old, and had made some poor decisions in her life. And because of those decisions, she was working for minimum wage, living with various roommates in a less than stellar apartment, driving an old beater and living paycheck to paycheck. She had little in the way of material possessions, but what she did have was a zest for life. She was the spark of the party with a smile that could light up any room. She was beautiful. She was generous. She was funny. And she was one of my best friends, right up until the day she died.

She was 34 years old.

He was in his mid-sixties.  His career as a businessman had led him to make some rather lucrative investments over the years, leaving him with little financial worry for his retirement. He had a luxurious home in a prestigious development, as well as an ocean-front cottage and a beautiful chalet that overlooked the Blue Ridge Mountains. He was very rich by the world’s standards, the envy of many who knew him. He had money to burn and could buy himself anything he could ever want.  Except for the one thing he desperately needed: a new lung.

It was through her death that he was given life. In the midst of unspeakable agony that night, her family had made the magnanimous decision to donate her organs. A few hours after receiving the call that changed their lives forever, five other families also received a life changing call.

It was almost a year later when the letter arrived.

We’re not even sure how it happened, as there are protocols and safeguards in place to prevent any direct contact between donor families and recipients, yet there it was. He had penned an epistle of thanks, the magnitude of which, he stated, was hard to convey. How do you adequately thank someone for the breath of life?  Yet he did, and his gratitude was as palpable as if he’d written in braille.

Her family responded, including a picture of her as he had requested. A few of months later, they met not with handshakes, but with tears and hearty embraces.  And then he began to hand them gifts. He had come with tokens of his appreciation for everyone in this family, this family that he now considered to be a part of his own. He had commissioned an artist to paint a portrait of her from the picture they had sent and presented them with two canvases—one for her parents, and one for her only sister. There were gold bracelets for each of her nieces, along with other treasures.

They continued to meet several times a year and he always arrived with gifts for all.  He invited them to be guests on his yacht. He offered to fly them to his mountain home for a vacation.  He gave them the keys to his beachfront cottage for the summer. The family thanked him profusely for his generosity each time, and they assured him the he didn’t need to go to such extravagance—that he was doing too much.

“Too much?” he asked. “You have given me life. I could never do enough to repay you.”

The more profound the gratitude, the more boundless our generosity.

Thanksgiving is defined as:

1. the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, especially to God.
2. an expression of thanks, especially to God.
3. a public celebration in acknowledgment of divine favor or kindness.

We don’t need a lung transplant to understand that God has given us the breath of life. But sometimes we need a reminder.  In our day-to-day busyness of life, we can often forget the things that matter most, especially when life gets hard. But it is in the midst of those hard times that Paul reminds us to be grateful.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  –Phil 4:6-7 (NKJV)

Is Paul saying that we are to thank God for the trials and hardships? No, he is saying that we need to be grateful despite our circumstances, because he knows that an attitude of gratitude changes our perspective. It moves our focus from the size of our circumstance to the magnitude of our God. How can we not be grateful when we consider that God will never leave us nor forsake us? That no weapon formed against us will prosper?  That we are fearfully and wonderfully made?  And that Christ died for our sins?

We are forgiven. That fact alone should have us on our knees every day. Not just one random Thursday in November. The woman we read about in Luke 7:36-50 understood this, and serves as an example for all of us.

She is known only as ‘”a sinful woman” and her life changing “call” came when she heard that Jesus was going to be dining at the home of a local man that night. Without invitation, she walked into the house emboldened by her desperate need, only a moment later to be humbled by his presence, dropping at his feet. Her tears fell unabashedly, washing the desert sand from his flesh, and she used her own hair to wipe them dry.  It is then that she took a bottle of perfume from her pocket. In a culture where women were forbidden to touch a man who was not her husband, she cradled the feet of Jesus, anointing him with not just a measured amount of the aromatic mixture, but breaking the bottle and pouring it all out for him. Anointing the feet represented servanthood, discipleship and love. She gave it all.

This scene took place in a room full of men who watched with disdain. When she walked in, they saw sin. When she touched his feet, they saw uncleanliness.  When her tears began to flow they saw drama, and when she emptied the expensive bottle, they saw only waste. But Jesus doesn’t look at the outward appearance, and so when she walked in, what he saw was her need. Her need to be free of her past. Her need to be unchained from her bondage to sin. Her need to be whole.

Knowing the men were judging her, Jesus tells them the story of two men who owed money to a lender, with one of the debts being ten times that of the other. The banker however, tells both men that their debts are forgiven—they owe nothing.  Jesus asked the scowling Pharisees which of those two men would love the banker more. “The one who was forgiven more,” Simon answered.

Exactly.

Our generosity will always be in direct proportion to our gratitude.

What are you most grateful for?  What is the one thing that you could never, ever repay? Add this to your prayers. Not once a year, but daily, as a constant reminder of the grace you have been shown.  And then thanksgiving will not be an annual tradition, but instead, a lifestyle of giving thanks.