I came across a humorous story about an atheist professor who was in the woods admiring the magnificence of evolution when a grizzly bear came charging out of the bushes. The professor ran for his life until he tripped and fell. As the bear was about to attack, the terrified professor cried out, “Oh my God, help me!”
Suddenly everything froze in time, and a voice from heaven responded, “After all these years of denying me and telling your students I don’t exist, you want me to help you now?”
The man replied, “That’s a fair point. Instead of helping me, maybe you could just turn the bear into a Christian.”
The voice answered, “As you request.”
Suddenly, the bear sat back, clasped its paws together, looked up and said, “Oh God, thank you for this food I am about to receive.”
At least the bear knew how to give thanks.
It’s one thing to say thanks before a meal or on Thanksgiving Day but another to make that a lifestyle. Throughout several stages of life, I’ve found how much work it is to maintain an attitude of gratitude. Every change, even changes I wanted like getting married and having kids, requires learning once again how to be content in a new situation with different responsibilities, demands and needs.
Unlike complaining, gratitude and contentment don’t come naturally, and we don’t see many examples of them in our culture today. But when we cultivate them, they dramatically affect the outcome of our lives. We find whatever we’re looking for, whether we’re like a vulture, looking for what’s dead and rotting, or like a hummingbird, looking for what’s living and growing.
Last August, my family and I visited a woman from our church family who spent her whole life in this area until a few years ago when her family moved her near Chicago to be closer to them. This Thanksgiving, she will turn 102 years old.
As we visited with “Grandma Lu” and took her to her favorite restaurant, I was struck by how upbeat and positive she is after all she’s been through in life. A lot has happened and changed in the past 102 years. And yet, rather than worrying or complaining, she is the most thankful person I know, constantly thinking about others rather than herself, even after recently being placed in hospice care.
Grandma Lu is like that hummingbird — even in the bleakest of circumstances, continually looking for the good, and in the process leaving an indelible mark on every person with whom she comes in contact. She’s an inspiration for me, because in a world full of anxiety, that’s not an easy feat.
Her secret comes from ancient wisdom in the Bible that promises if we bring our requests to God through prayer and thanksgiving, our anxiety will be replaced with a peace that surpasses understanding.
This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for my wife and 3-year-old twins, our church family and this wonderful community we call home — for a town where people still wave at each other, where neighbors help neighbors and where a small church can still make a big difference.
If you’ve ever potty-trained kids, you know that when they have to go, they have to go. So, there have been times when we had to stop to let our kids go, even just minutes from our house, because they couldn’t hold it any longer. It impressed me how many people in our area stopped to check if we were OK or needed help.
I’m thankful to live in a community that cares about other people like that.
This year, I’m also thankful for peace of mind. There isn’t a whole lot I can do to control all the little things that go on in my own life, let alone bring peace to all the chaos, conflicts and wars in this world.
I can cultivate a greater peace in my own mind through prayer and thanksgiving. I can choose to be like a hummingbird, looking for the good in my life and all around me, so that I’m spreading peace and contentment to others rather than the opposite. And who knows what effect that could have on our world if we all did that?
Grandma Lu has lived 102 years, and she’s still choosing joy and has a peace of mind that is truly contagious. I’m not sure I’ll live that long, but I hope near the end of my life people will say the same thing about me.
That’s what I’m working toward this Thanksgiving — not just a day of gratitude, but a lifetime of it. Not just for my own sake, but to inspire future generations that our real strength isn’t found in never facing hard times — it’s found in choosing gratitude even when life is difficult.
The Rev. Jonathan Carlson is lead pastor at Hillside Assembly of God in Gillett and Hillside Assembly of God North in Pound.
