Always Thankful

Ephesians 5:19-20
Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.


Regann, my daughter, has taken to saying the prayer at meals, and bed-time herself. It is such a marvelous and wonderful thing to listen as she talks to God with such innocence and even ease. Even more fascinating is what she talks about. She can go on and on – she might even be worse than me, in that regard. I find it amazing the things that she remembers from our day, each and every one of them gets a "thank You, so much." It makes me smile . . . and think. The other day she even thanked Him for my haircut, something I never would have thought to do. That struck me.

Generally, when we hear this passage discussed, it is in reference to the difficult times in our lives. We are to thank Him for everything, even the bad stuff. Now, I whole-heartedly agree with that, but that limits the verse a lot, at least in our own minds. This verse tells us that we are to give "thanks to God the Father for everything," and in the last couple of days, it has taken on an even fuller meaning for me.

How often do we go through our days taking so much for granted? Sure, we thank God for our meals, and generally thank Him for our family, house, clothes, etc. Yet, when was the last time we thanked God for a simple haircut? For time spent visiting with a friend, or a neighbor? For the air-conditioning or heat in our houses, and cars (unless it has gone out recently)? For sunlight to warm our days, and moonlight to illuminate our nights? For a warm smile from a stranger? For a beautiful flower that greets us on our way into work, or the grocery story? There are so many things that we take for granted, never thinking to thank God for them, and yet, that is what we are to do. We are to thank Him for all things, big and small, significant and insignificant, good or bad - everything.

Oh, to see the world through the eyes of a child. I really do believe that she teaches me at least as much as I teach her - probably more. I thank God that He has revealed so much to me through this precious little one. I really need to thank God for a lot of stuff that, up until now, has been over-looked. Will you join me? Let us go through today thanking and praising God for each and every little thing. Together, we will "sing and make music in our hearts to the Lord." What a beautiful sound that will be in the heavens!