Giving and thanksgiving, the marriage that holds us all together

​A friend recently introduced me at a speaking event as one of the most grateful people she knows. That caught me off guard. One, no one had ever included gratitude when introducing me. And two, my friend has a giant circle of grateful friends. It was especially humbling to know she sees me that way.

In the aftermath of that introduction, I wrestled with it. Mainly, I found myself asking, are your truly grateful? Are you worthy of anyone identifying you as one of the most grateful people they know, let alone this wonderful soul?

And the answer I kept arriving at was yes.

Yes, I am a truly grateful person.

I guess that starts with recognizing that, by my own personal definition, there's a very big distinction between feeling lucky or fortunate and being grateful.

I believe people can go their whole lives recognizing they are very fortunate, privileged, lucky - and never attribute any of that to anything beyond themselves, or - well, just plain luck.

I'm not saying that critical or judgmental. I don't think we can ever go wrong recognizing the good in our lives.

But gratitude, being grateful, it begs us to take our fortune a step further. It begs us to identify a source for our fortune and then offer thanksgiving to that source.

To me, maybe it's the most valuable part of whatever fortune we have, the opportunity to say thank you for it. Maybe that is the serve and return that is intended to make us all whole, this marriage of giving and thanksgiving.

For me, my thanksgiving always begins and ends with God. I have written and spoken a lot of words in my life, but there is no doubt, it's not even close, the words I've uttered most, either inside my soul or right out loud, are thank you God.

Thank you God.

When my car starts in the morning on the way to work, thank you God.

As I prepare to eat, thank you God.

When I pick my boys up for a weekend and they approach the car, thank you God.

When I stand before an audience speaking about things I never could have pictured myself speaking about, thank you God.

When I look back on the struggles of my life, and live out the current struggles of my life, and feel God in them, right there, without even a hint of abandonment, thank you God.

Would my life have meaning at all were it not for the chance to say, thank you God?

Would my life have meaning at all if I didn't feel God's warm embrace as he draws me near and whispers, you're welcome?

But then my God doesn't stop there, and like my friend, God catches me off guard when he says, thank YOU Keith. Thank YOU for the goodness you pour into me and mine.

God calls me by name and reminds me, we ARE in this together.

This week, if you feel fortunate or lucky or privileged or blessed, maybe take it a step further. Maybe consider a source for those feelings.

And offer thanksgiving.

Offer thanksgiving and know, that is the marriage that holds us all together.

Giving and Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving dear friends.