Skipping Thanksgiving

By Mike Glenn

The other day, my granddaughters were asking me why I hadn’t put up our family Christmas tree. “It’s not time yet,” I told them. “We have to have Thanksgiving first.”

“Can’t we just skip Thanksgiving,” they asked. I can’t blame them. They wanted to hurry up and get to presents under the tree along with all the Christmas candy and treats. Compared to all that, Thanksgiving is a little boring. After all, what do we do on Thanksgiving? We drive long distances and eat too much and then, we watch football on TV until we’re too tired to stay awake. Along the way, we trade stories with family and maybe, if we’re lucky, we can play a little touch football in the front yard. It’s pretty evident why most of us want to hurry up and get to Christmas.

What should we do on Thanksgiving? Well, we should give thanks. All of us should find a little time and space to thank God for all of His blessings during the previous year. We should remember that all of life is a gift. Every breath, every thought, every heartbeat is a gift from the Giver of Life Himself. We are always and forever in debt to His goodness.

Once, as Jesus was walking along the road, He was confronted by ten lepers who begged for Jesus to heal them. He told them to go show themselves to their priest and as they ran, they were healed. In the story, only one of the healed lepers returns to Jesus and says thanks. Here’s what makes that story interesting. When the man returns, Jesus tells him his faith has made him well.

Wait a minute? Weren’t all ten healed? Yes. Then why did Jesus say this man has been made well? What about the other nine? Is there a difference between being healed and being well?

Maybe. After all, there’s a difference between being forgiven and being restored. Being forgiven means we’re no longer responsible for repairing our transgression. Being restored means the relationship has been mended as it was before the transgression occurred.

Likewise, being healed means we’re no longer limited or held back by our woundedness. Being made well means we’re no longer held back and we’re celebrating a new level of understanding and commitment to Christ. The leper who returned rejoined his friends with a much deeper relationship with Jesus. He is, after all, the one who returned to speak to Jesus and the one who heard Jesus speak to him.

The others were healed. He was made well.

Giving thanks is hard. It puts us in a vulnerable position. We have to admit we’re receiving something we didn’t earn and don’t deserve. Being grateful means we are now obligated to respond to God’s goodness by being good ourselves – to God and each other. Maybe that’s why we want to skip Thanksgiving and move on to Christmas.

Thanksgiving is hard, but it’s only in thanksgiving that we’re made well – whole and complete. Skipping thanksgiving is more than just moving on to Christmas. It’s missing a vital element of life itself – the moment we get to talk to Jesus and hear Jesus talk to us.

There’s a difference between being healed and being well. Don’t miss it by skipping Thanksgiving.

The blog is a little shorter this week. I’ll give you a few minutes to be thankful. Be well. Be thankful. Happy Thanksgiving.