WORD OF THE WEEK: THANKS

Rudyard Kipling was a great British poet, novelist and short story writer in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

Well known for his fictional work The Jungle Book and his poem IF, Kipling received the Nobel prize in literature in 1907. The poet Laureate earned a great deal of money from his literary works which spawned criticism in British media.

Hoping for a story, a newspaper reporter once approached him and said, “Mr. Kipling. I just read that somebody calculated that the money you made from your writings amounts to over $100 a word.”

Kipling raised his eyebrows and said, “Really, I certainly wasn’t aware of that.”

The reporter reached into his pocket and pulled out a $100 bill and gave it to Kipling and cynically said, “Here’s a $100 bill Mr. Kipling. Now give me one of your $100 words.”

Kipling looked at the $100 bill for a moment, took it, folded it up, put it in his pocket and said, “Thanks.”

As we approach the holiday of Thanksgiving in the USA, our word of the week is “Thanks.”

The words thanks, thankful and thanksgiving are found over 100 times in the Bible. The exhortation to “give thanks” is found 40 times.

Five times in Psalms 107 the Psalmist exclaimed, “Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness.”

God’s goodness is daily witnessed in our lives. From the beauty of creation, to the pleasure we enjoy in our relationships to spiritual blessings in Christ God blesses us in so many ways. An unknown poet expressed it this way in a piece entitled “Thank You, God, For a Hundred Things.”

Thank you, God, for a hundred things —
For the flower that blooms, for the bird that sings,
For the sun that shines, And the rain that drops,
For ice cream and raisins and lollipops.

Thank you, God, for the gift of time —
For the clocks that tick, and the bells that chime,
For days gone by, And future cheers,
And seasons, and moments, for hours and years.

Thanks for the people who give life pizzazz —
For folks who play sports, those who act and play jazz,
For friends and for families, For folks of all races,
For hands that give help and for bright smiling faces.

Thanks for the planet you give as our home —
For the sky with its clouds, for the oceans’ white foam,
For the creatures and critters, The lakes, falls and fountains,
For hills and for valleys, for canyons and mountains.

Thank you, God, for the gift of your Son —
For the love Jesus shared, for the battle He won
Over death, for the promise That He would be near
To lead and to guide and to hold us so dear.

Thank you, God, for a hundred things —
For autumn and pumpkins, for dragonfly wings,
For Thanksgiving dinners, For sea sides and shore,

For a hundred things, and a thousand things more!

The apostle Paul proclaimed that prayer should be punctuated with thanksgiving. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Phil 4:6).

Thanksgiving begins and ends with God! We thank God for who He is. Our Creator. Our benefactor. The giver and sustainer of life.

When we thank God for our blessings, we demonstrate a recognition of their source. When we thank God we show a grateful heart. When we thank God we admit our need for Someone greater in our lives. We are humbled by our own inadequacy.

Several years ago a cartoon featured a bewildered looking fellow sitting at a Thanksgiving table loaded down with turkey, dressing, hot rolls and all the trimmings. The caption read: “Alvin the atheist realized he was at his lowest point. He felt grateful but had no one to thank.”

Christians know who to thank! As we approach our national day of Thanksgiving this week, and enjoy a day of relaxation, a bounty of food, and good times with family and friends, may we honesty, sincerely and humbly give thanks.

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman