From Thanksgiving to Giving
If you’re anything like me, the way the calendar falls out this year might have you feeling overwhelmed in multiple ways. Maybe your head is spinning from all the noise of holiday schedules and shopping, but your heart is full of all the ways God’s grace is on full display in this season.
If you’re reading this the day it’s posted, it’s the last day of November, a Saturday uniquely wedged right between Black Friday and the first Sunday of Advent.
It’s four days packed with transitions from gratitude to gift buying, from fall to winter, from a season of giving thanks for our gifts to a season of looking forward to the Greatest Gift.
At the beginning of the month, a little burned out on social media and looking for something simple to get back into the rhythm of sharing reels, I challenged myself to post a reel with something I’m grateful for every day.
It was harder than I expected.
Not because I couldn’t come up with things, but because I couldn’t narrow it down. See, once you start looking around you for beautiful things, you start seeing them everywhere. You can’t stop. You can’t even put words to it. You certainly can’t share it adequately in a 5 second reel with a short caption.
And there are just so many layers of things to be thankful for. Material gifts, like a warm house and an iPhone and my new fireplace; things that are a privilege to have and I shouldn’t take for granted. Or immaterial things like family and freedom and health; things that are harder to name but also still a privilege.
But then there are gifts that can’t be taken away, which range from the smallest to the biggest of things. The way the sun shines on a frosty morning, the first sip of a cold glass of water, the crunch of leaves on a sidewalk - I could go on and on and on with all those little beautiful moments that are always there in every situation if you know how to look for them.
And the most amazing gift of all is knowing that if it all went away; if the whole world was cold and dark and empty but I could still know Jesus, that would be enough. If all I had was the promise of eternal light and warmth and abundance and none of the shadows of beauty we have here on earth, it would be enough. If I could have none of the gifts and only the Giver, he would be more than enough.
I mentioned this a few weeks ago when I wrote about contentment. And just as continuing to count gifts has continued to illuminate this truth, so has continuing through the end of Philippians.
After Paul interrupts his thank-you note to teach a lesson on contentment, he carries on to talk about how the Philippians have generously supported him. He really doesn’t care as much about receiving the gift; he’s more excited about what it shows of the Philippians’ hearts.
It’s never the gifts that matter; it’s always what they say about the giver.
Paul goes on to remind the Philippians that “my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Focus on what you can get in this season and you’ll never be satisfied. Focus on what you’ve been given and you’ll see the abundance of God’s riches in glory. And when you know you have everything you could ever need, your abundance will overflow in generous giving to others.
I was reminded recently that Canada celebrates Thanksgiving in October and it’s a uniquely American custom to celebrate at the end of November, but I think it’s fitting. A season of giving thanks for what we already have is a great way to set up for a season of giving and receiving new gifts.
November is a great time to focus on the gifts we’ve been given already. But Advent is a time to focus on the even greater things to come - the promised Savior who will bring riches in glory.
So when you’re eating the last of the turkey leftovers or putting up the Christmas tree, don’t forget to keep counting all your blessings, both big and small. Don’t forget to let the abundance you’ve been given overflow to others. And don’t forget to keep looking forward to the Greatest Gift of all.