Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Oct/86

Contributor - Sandi Hekhuis

Title - Thanksgiving/Stewardship

Topic - Thanksgiving

Good (well-being and prosperity) will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice. Psalm 112:5

For those who fear Him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Psalm 34:9-10

Our boys are already planning two Thanksgiving celebrations. They wish to celebrate both the Canadian and American holidays. I wish I could say it is because they desire to praise and honour God more, but it is really because they greatly enjoy turkey dinners. With two Thanksgivings this year, that only leaves 363 more days to do what God's Word repeatedly tells me to do, namely to praise Him with a heart overflowing with thankfulness. One of my favourite Scripture verses is also one which I find difficult to apply. It is: "Give thanks in all circumstances".

I find it most appropriate that Thanksgiving and Stewardship are dual themes for this month, for they are quite interrelated. Someone once said that stewardship is representing the King in all of life. As a steward is entrusted with managing another's property, so God has entrusted us with -the responsibility of being thankful, generous, dedicated servants, good users of that which He has entrusted to us. Stewardship is thankful living and thankful giving.

Thankful giving always blesses the giver. Generosity begets generosity. We have recently moved to a new area. One of our neighbours is an 84-year-old widow. She baked us a loaf of delicious homemade bread when we moved here. She has continued to bake bread for us. I said to her, "Jennie, we appreciated the bread when we came, but you don't have to keep doing it." She said, "But your boys told me that it was the best bread they'd ever had. I'm so glad they appreciated it, so I'll continue to make you more." God must also be pleased when He knows that we are thankful for His special Gift to us, the Bread of Life.

Thankful giving may be monetary, but we should also be generous with the giving of our praise to God and our fellow men. Our time and talents should be used for God's glory and to help others. Gifts of thankful living shown toward others may be as simple as a smile, a pat on the back, or a word of encouragement and hope. Dr. Samuel Johnson, the famous 18th century author, said, "Getting money is not all a man's business, to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life".

Edmond H. Babbitt has written, in a paper entitled The Art of Appreciation, "One helpful word may change a life. Often our intense pursuit of what we want keeps us from gratitude for what we have. The best things in life are free, so are gratitude and appreciation. Be alert for the best in others, and you will find, not that the rose bushes are all thorns, but that the thorn bushes are all roses."

Are we thankful for God's Word? Are we reading it and applying it daily to our lives and allowing it to change us?

Are we thankful for the price others have paid that we might live in a land of abundance and freedom? It's astounding when we realize how earnestly the early disciples took God's command to go into all the world. We know the difficulties they encountered. Not only did that little group send missionaries to the far boundaries of their world, but they also took seriously the command to help the orphaned, widowed and poor. If s still God's command to us. Can we, in thankfulness to Him, do less?

Another of our new neighbours is a 12-year-old, brain damaged and emotionally disturbed child. He likes to play with younger children. Many of them treat him rudely. We have encouraged Darren to treat him kindly. Recently, when Darren was hospitalized, Robbie brought over a book for him. He had scrawled a note in the front. It said, "Thank for nice".

Our boys may still think of Thanksgiving in terms of turkey, but I am grateful that they have shown appreciation to an elderly neighbour and kindness to a disadvantaged child.

I'd like to think that with two Thanksgivings this year, I will double my thankfulness to God, and change the sometimes nonchalant attitude I have toward the riches available to me through Christ I'd really like to apply what Helen Steiner Rice says in the last lines of her beautiful poem, Thank You God for Everything

And give us new awareness of our many gifts from Thee

And help us to remember that the key to life and living

Is to make each prayer a prayer of thanks and every day

Thanksgiving.

I would suggest that sometime during the time of Thanksgiving, you might want to meditate upon I Timothy 6:17-19.

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