Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

A few months ago I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Samuel Ravelo, CDR, US Navy Chaplain Corps. Sammy tells a story about his time in seminary. One day he was very hungry and had no money. The only food he had was a piece of bread and a banana. As he knelt praying, he complained,

“Lord, I am so hungry and poor, and all I have is this piece of bread and a banana.”

(Sammy tells this story with great emotion and fake tears-try to imagine it!) Then God spoke to Sammy’s heart,

“Sammy, I only promised you your daily bread. The banana is extra!”

Entitlement. The American Dream. A chicken in every pot. It is easy to feel entitled to abundance. However, God’s promised provision is not so much in our sense of entitled abundance as it is in our contentment and trust for the promise of daily bread.

We are called to always give thanks in everything, whether in abundance or in want. The Apostle Paul wrote about the secret of contentment: “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” (Philippians 4:12, ESV)

Cherie Harder, President of the Trinity Forum, states, “The act of thanksgiving requires both memory and humility — both reflection on the causes and sources of gratitude, and the recognition of the blessing as a grace, rather than an entitlement.” She goes on to write, “A century ago, Henry Ward Beecher observed that: ‘Pride slays thanksgiving, but a humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grows.'”

Let us gratefully and humbly rejoice that God provides us with the promised provision of daily bread as well as the abundance of the “extra” banana. Whether we are in want or in plenty, He faithfully provides us with the love, hope and faith we need for true contentment through the loving gift of His son Jesus.

Thanks be to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.