One of my favorite authors is Francine Rivers. Her works have been described as historical Christian fiction. Using biblical and historical research along with a sanctified imagination, she takes biblical narratives and themes and fleshes out their storylines and characters to bring them to life. My latest Rivers’ reading is Sons of Encouragement in which she fleshes out the lives of five significant men in the Bible. The first one she puts flesh on is Aaron, the brother of Moses, whom God called to be Moses’ right hand man when Moses led the exodus of the nation of Israel from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land in Canaan.
At one point Rivers narrates the significant unrest that arose among the Israelites when drinking water became extremely scarce. When they finally came upon a watering hole, the first taste testers found the water to be extremely bitter and undrinkable. Moses remedied the situation by throwing an unidentified log into the water, miraculously making it drinkable. When Moses tried to use this event as a teachable moment, the people rushed by him to get to the water, oblivious to what he was saying. Francine Rivers’ commentary into the narrative is insightful, “They were too busy drinking the water God had provided to stop and thank God for providing it.”1 With her comment Rivers identifies one of the harmful hindrances to experiencing and expressing thanksgiving and gratitude – being too enamored with one’s blessing(s) to stop and thank the provider of the blessing(s).
Being too enamored with one’s blessing(s) to stop and thank the provider is not the only hindrance to feeling thankful. Let me suggest some others:
- A spirit of entitlement. It is difficult, if not impossible, to feel entitled and thankful at the same time. The spirit of entitlement is “life owes me.” “Owes” implies obligation on someone else’s part to provide whatever the one who feels entitled thinks he is due. In reality, life owes us only three things: life, liberty, and an opportunity to pursue happiness. Anything beyond that is what Louisiana Cajuns call lagniappe (“lan-yap) – “any extra or unexpected benefit.” My free translation is “icing on the cake.”
- Irritation/bitterness/disappointment over feeling short changed – even when that irritation/bitterness/disappointment is based on unrealistic expectations. For example, it’s hard to be thankful for a Nissan Versa when your heart is set on a full sized Mercedes SUV.
- An over-inflated view of personal responsibility for our own success. This is the challenge that faces the “self-made man or woman.” Remember, thanksgiving comes from receiving a gift which we don’t feel we deserve, or we don’t feel responsible for providing. If we consider ourselves personally responsible for our success, it will be difficult to have a spirit of thanksgiving. Who apart from yourself would you thank?
- Taking for granted how good we actually have it, or feeling we have nothing to be thankful for. A root cause of both attitudes is a lack of contentment with what one has. Aesop, who lived in Greece during the 6th century B.C., spoke great wisdom when he said, “Gratitude turns what we have into enough.”
To combat these hindrances, we will do well to remember who is responsible for the good we enjoy in life:
(1) “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow (James 1:17 NASB).”
(2) “…neither is He [God] served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things (Acts 17:25 NASB).”
Happy Thanksgiving.
1Francine Rivers, Sons of Encouragement, Life of Aaron, p. 55.
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