Thanksgiving is a beloved holiday for many, a day to gather with family and friends and get stuffed on turkey and pumpkin pie.
But for many, Thanksgiving is also a time to give thanks to God for the blessings in their lives. Instead of turning to God with a list of worries and requests, it's a time to simply express gratitude.
The Rev. Rod Loy, senior pastor of First Assembly of God in North Little Rock, said gratitude is something Christians should show every day.
"Thanksgiving, instead of being one day to be thankful, should instead be the start of a new habit," Loy said. "Be thankful to God. Be thankful to others. Live a life of intentional gratitude."
Loy said he has taught his congregation about blessing, expectation and entitlement.
"The first time you receive something, maybe even the first couple times, you see it as a blessing from God," he said. "Your heart is filled with gratitude. Eventually you begin to expect it. It may still be a blessing, but one you come to expect will happen. If it doesn't, something is wrong. Your heart is no longer filled with gratitude."
That's when it's common to move from expectation to entitlement.
"It's no longer a blessing. Instead, it's what you are entitled to, what you deserve," Loy said. "Entitlement is an ugly attitude that says 'I deserve this.'"
Loy said a safeguard against entitlement is "intentional gratitude" or thanksgiving.
"First Thessalonians 5:18 says, 'In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.' Thanksgiving is a reminder that our attitude should always be one of gratefulness to God. When you are grateful, when you say 'Thank you,' you are following God's will for your life," he said.
Loy said the key to gratitude is "instead of focusing on what you don't have, focus on what you do have -- all the things God has done for you."
He compares ungrateful people to children who have opened a mountain of gifts at Christmas but remain unsatisfied and want more.
"Instead of concentrating on all the great things they got, they can't quit thinking about the things they wanted and didn't get," he said. "Grateful people never have to be reminded to give thanks. It's a part of their life. Thanksgiving is just another opportunity to say 'Thank you.'"
The Rev. John Marconi, pastor of Our Lady of the Holy Souls Catholic Church in Little Rock, will talk about gratitude at the annual Hillcrest Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service, which will be at 7 p.m. Monday at the church, 1003 N. Tyler St. He said Thanksgiving is a time to recognize God as the "giver of all gifts."
"Everything we have is a gift from God," he said. "That's a reason for us to always be thankful and grateful."
He suggests developing an "attitude of gratitude."
"The real struggle for us as Christians is to have an attitude of gratitude even when things are not going well, in times of trial and suffering. Can we say, 'Thank you God for this cross, this illness, the brokenness,'" Marconi said. "That's where I really want to bring us to, and in the U.S. that's what we're doing as a nation -- stopping to give thanks to God. We live in a skeptical world and that can take away our thankfulness to God. I want us as Christians to overcome that if at all possible."
Marconi said he will talk about the story of Jesus healing lepers as told in Luke 17.
"I really love that one," he said. "It just shows the condition of those who were with leprosy and separated from everything. There was no reason for them to give thanks at all, yet this one was healed by Jesus and he is the one we are called to be like. I can see that leper saying, 'Thank you Lord for my leprosy because without it I never would have had Jesus come into my life.'"
Marconi said expressing gratitude is about entering into the heart of God.
"It's all about us. He doesn't need it, but it's important for us to stop and give thanks to God," Marconi said. "Most of our prayers are asking for things but that's not true prayer, not if you look at the life of Jesus. He was always giving thanks and spending time with the Father. You also have to trust in him. 'This is what I want Lord, but I know you are the Father and I'm going to have to put my faith and trust in you about this.' He always has a way of working things out for us."
The Rev. Jeff Price, pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Little Rock, said that at its heart, Thanksgiving offers time to recognize "who God is and who we are."
"When we offer thanksgiving, what we are saying is God is God and we're not, and God provides for us in ways we can't," he said. "It's recognition of our dependent relationship to God."
Price said Thanksgiving offers time to recognize not only the greatness of God but also his goodness.
The Rev. Randy Hyde, pastor of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock, said Thanksgiving gives individuals and families the opportunity to focus more closely on gratitude.
"Obviously we're supposed to be grateful every day, but the holiday gives us an opportunity to focus on what proper gratitude is," he said. "If we didn't have that it might be more difficult for us to understand where gratitude comes from."
Hyde said it's important to remember that even in hard times "we've got a lot to be grateful for -- for being who we are and where we are."
"Like Christmas -- apart from how we have Christmas as an opportunity to worship God's incarnation in Christ -- there's also that different layer to it where it focuses on giving," he said. "Thanksgiving does the same thing with gratitude. It helps us think about it and reflect on what gratitude ought to be all the time."
As for Loy, he said, "God commands us to be grateful -- to never see His blessings as our entitlement."
It's something he tries to do, as he did on a recent morning walk.
"I spent the entire time just thanking him. I went on and on," he said. "I spent 2 1/2 miles doing nothing but saying 'Thank you.' You know what happened? As I focused on everything God has done for me, the obstacles I was currently facing got smaller and smaller.
"Gratitude does that. Gratitude reminds you how blessed you are. Gratitude reminds you how big and wonderful is the God you serve. Saying 'thank you' helps you focus on the blessings."
Religion on 11/19/2016