Giving Thanks

I year ago, around Thanksgiving time, I wrote about covenants. Glenn Beck had challenged his listeners to read and sign a covenant with God, to restore God’s favor upon our land. I don’t know how many signers he got (or even if there was a way to count and then publish the number; we did it, but I don’t recall there being a way to tell Glenn Beck). And we didn’t hear much about it after that.

The Mayflower Compact was the first covenant,
or contract between the people and God,
for people settling this country, image from here.

The following year was pretty dedicated to the presidential election—and other elections. (I had to run in my Primary as a precinct chair, back in February; I’d never had a challenger before.) There’s always so much to do. And it’s about persuading people to a point of view.

But the important thing to persuade people to is to live the laws of God. Even if they can’t quite believe in the One True God, if they nevertheless live as though they believed, that seems to be enough.

Back in the days when Abraham rescued his nephew Lot from the wicked cities of Sodom just before its destruction, the Lord had been willing to spare the city if Abraham could find 50 righteous souls, or even just 45, or 40, or 30, or 20, or 10. But Abraham couldn't find 10. Lot’s immediate family—which seemed to consist of Lot and his wife and a couple of daughters, not any married children—was all they could find, so there was no saving the city. And when Lot’s wife looked back, she wasn’t saved either.

When Jonah preached to Ninevah, the people repented, and were spared in that generation (I think they were taken out something like a century later).

The Lord is merciful. If He has given us warnings, and we heed them, the likelihood is the bad consequences do not follow.

So I’ve been waiting all year to find out if our humble turning back to God as a people was enough. We can of course do this individually—and we must. But as a people it depends on enough people doing it, probably people who weren’t doing it before, which is why we were ripening for destruction. And, as people in a proselytizing church know, sharing the gospel—even sharing the joy that it brings to our lives—is typically not that persuasive to people whose habits are foreign to showing love to God.

But we had reason to hope. One thing I kept seeing pop up in memes was this quoted scripture:

2 Chronicles 7:14

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

If enough of us committed to live in covenant with Jesus Christ, the Lord would protect and heal our land.

I saw several calls to prayer, especially that final week. Here was one:

Found on Facebook; I couldn't find the originator.

We had a majority of voters reject a campaign of “abortion” and “he’s literally Hitler and all his voters are fascists, racists, etc…”

The land looks like this, by states.

Final electoral college map, from Real Clear Politics,
found on Facebook here

It looks like this, by county.

County results, map found here

The blue spots correspond pretty closely to where cities are. I saw stats saying that 86.72% of American land is “red,” while 13.28% is “blue.” One of those few blue counties in Texas is mine, Harris County. But, while we’ve been pretty blue since 2018, this election Trump cut his deficit in half, and we won appellate court judges and several district court judges. We’re trending toward red, so right now you’d call it purple. I’m not sure about the data in Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio, but there’s an awful lot of red country between those big cities.

Even California moved red. Here’s the comparison of counties 2020 to 2024:

Graphic found as screenshot from this video

Granted, neither party is pure. You can't simply say red is made up of good people and blue is made up of bad people. But it is also true that one of the parties pushed a lot of anti-freedom policies, in our real lives, over the past four years—and pushed for babies to be killed in the womb as a major issue. And they called those of us evil who didn’t go along with them. So it's a relatively accurate depiction for our purposes.

It comes down to what people were thinking in their hearts as they declared their sides. And if that was to move all of us toward God, then we can call this win God’s merciful hand preserving us. He wants us to have liberty—and the prosperity and civilization that go with that.

There’s a scripture verse that kept coming to my attention this week. This is in the book of Ether, about a people long since destroyed, whose destruction had come because of the evil cabal, the secret murderous combinations to get power and gain, and the editor of the pages, many hundred years later than their destruction, gives us a warning for our day. It’s all important, but I highlighted a few sentences that strike me as pertinent for us, in this country, right now.

Ether 8:23-26

23 Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain—and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.

24 Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up.

25 For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass to the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who beguiled our first parents, yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of men that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out form the beginning.

26 Wherefore, I, Moroni, am commanded to write these things that evil may be done away, and that the time may come that Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of men, but that they may be persuaded to do good continually, that they may come unto the fountain of all righteousness and be saved.

Screenshot from this video

Most of this is warning, but in that first verse and the last we’re told that these things are to persuade us so we will choose righteousness. There’s a warning, but also the hope that we will heed it and avoid the bad stuff that could happen.

What if this election was our way of “not suffering these things” to be among us any longer? What if the calls to “drain the swamp” and root out the Deep State are exactly what this scripture warned us we needed to do? This may mean that the Destroying Angel passes over us, as it did the children of Israel in the days of Moses—because there were enough of us living in covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ that we are spared from the destruction that looked so imminent, had things gone the other way.

I’m thankful that a majority of voters rejected the secret combinations, the evil of tyranny with abortion as its sacrificial right (and rite).

I’m thankful that Donald Trump was preserved from assassination. I pray that he will surround himself with wise and good people who will do the Lord’s will in this country.

I’m thankful for the reprieve from destruction.

There’s plenty to be thankful for this year.

I’m thankful for those who have shared their humor with us through the hard times, and I expect will keep doing so through good times. Here are a sampling.

from a Facebook story, appears to originate with Eric Moutsos

from an ad on Facebook from MAGA.com

a Blaze Media ad, product sold here

The Babylon Bee (satirical site) offers, for Republicans 10 things to be thankful for, at least one or two of which might give you a chuckle. And another 10 things for Democrats.

It looks like this could be a good holiday season—with plenty of reasons to give thanks and rejoice in our Savior—followed by a new, very hopeful year, for all those who live in covenant with God, and for all those who may be saved from destruction along with us.

A Thanksgiving, Covenant People

the first and sixth definitions of covenant 

I got out my 1982 dictionary to see what covenant has meant all my life. The pertinent definitions are the first and the last:

1.    A binding and solemn agreement made by two or more individuals, parties, etc., to do or keep from doing a specified thing; compact.

6.    Theo. The promises made by God to man, as recorded in the Bible.

The other definitions were legalistic and/or related to specific places. So these will do.

There’s an ancient covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, in which Abraham promises to worship and obey the One True God, our Father and Creator, and God promises Abraham three things: posterity, priesthood (the authority to use God’s power and to preach God’s word), and property—a promised land.

In that posterity blessing, Abraham is promised that all the peoples of the world will be blessed by his seed, which will be as numerous as the sands of the sea. That must have seemed impossible when he was a nonagenarian—and his wife was nearly so—and they still hadn’t had a child. Abraham remained faithful nonetheless.

As covenant is phrased in more recent scripture, Doctrine and Covenants 82:10: “I, the Lord, am abound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” So, if you want to bind the creator of the universe to do something for you, you make a covenant with Him—and then you keep your part. If you don’t keep your part, the covenant is broken.

But the Lord does not easily give up on a covenant. The whole book of Hosea is an allegory for how the Lord keeps his covenants. In that book, the chosen people are metaphorically an unfaithful wife, who leaves her husband, but he waits faithfully, and eventually she comes back. And rather than punish her, he accepts her and continues to love her, despite the lost years.

He wants to be in covenant with us. But that is up to us.

This nation—as we should remember in this season of Thanksgiving, started with a covenant: the Mayflower Compact. It was signed by the people on the Mayflower on November 21, 1620 (or November 11, if you use the “old style” Julian calendar, which they were using at the time).

Here’s what they signed:

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. 

Mayflower Compact manuscript, image from here

They formed a new “body politick” by covenant, with God as their witness.

When the 13 colonies were founded, that was by covenant. And the new nation under the Constitution was likewise formed by covenant.

George Washington renewed the covenant with the fledgling nation’s first Thanksgiving declaration in 1789:

It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God. Both Houses of Congress requested me to recommend a day of public thanksgiving and prayer. Now therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November to be devoted to the service of that great and glorious Being. That we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions. To enable us all to perform our several duties. To render our national government a blessing to all people by being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws. To protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us. And generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

 And Abraham Lincoln renewed it, twice, during the Civil War, in separate Thanksgiving declarations:

1863

In the midst of a Civil War of unequaled magnitude and severity, population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the battlefield. The country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. I do, therefore, invite my fellow citizens to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise for such singular deliverances and blessings, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

1864

It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our national life another year. It has also pleased our Heavenly Father to favor our citizens in their homes as our soldiers in their camps. Moreover, He has been pleased to inspire our minds and hearts with fortitude, courage, and resolution sufficient for the great trial of Civil War into which we have been brought by our adherence to the cause of freedom and humanity. Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November as a day to be observed by all my fellow-citizens as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God. And I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens that they do reverently humble themselves in the dust and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the Great Disposer of Events for a return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and harmony throughout the land which it has pleased Him to assign as a dwelling place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout all generations.

 We remained a covenant nation—until the year we took prayer out of schools. Schools were instituted in the first place to teach the upcoming generations to understand their religious social obligations—the covenant. To remove God from the covenant was a mistake. See more details about this in Jonathan Cahn’s Return of the Gods, which I talk about here. As Cahn explains, once you break the covenant—you open the door to the pagan gods of old, which will return with more power than when they were originally expelled. And it has gotten ugly.

Glenn Beck explained today on radio about his Renew the Covenant project, which has included a 40-day Bible covenant study, as well as a 15-day American covenant study. (He included the Washington and Lincoln quotes above, here, where you can access all the materials.)  He says that when he was baptized (into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), he told God that he would do whatever the Lord asked of him in exchange for the forgiveness he was getting. The challenge has been figuring out what the Lord wants him to do. But he has felt a need, since around 2010, to do an event to renew America’s covenant. He tried several times, but the timing wasn’t right. He had an event planned in 2020, with a lot of resources already going toward it, that got cancelled because of the pandemic, which was frustrating.

Then this summer he started feeling a strong push to do something to make it happen. He was thinking, how can I bring together a large enough group? And, as he told it one day, when he was announcing this project, the Lord said to him, “I don’t know. Where could you come up with, say, 12 million people willing to listen to you?” which was the number of listeners he has on radio daily. So there it was. Nothing like this had been done on radio before. But he—and a team—put together the materials for the forty days of preparation. And today he presented the covenant, written for us to print out, sign our names to, and keep or frame or whatever. It might be something you'll want to go over and sign with your families on Thanksgiving Day.

But he warns—as Cahn has—don’t make a covenant with God unless you plan to keep it. God will not be mocked. You’ll make the country worse off, if you sign it and don’t mean to keep it.

What happens if there aren’t enough of us that Renew the Covenant? I don’t know. I assume we personally will be better off than if we didn’t do it. And maybe enough will do it. Glenn’s listeners have done remarkable things before, in humanitarian aid and rescue, and just in doing our civic duty. The Lord would have saved Sodom and Gomorrah if Abraham had been able to find only 50, or 40, or 30, or 20, or even 10 righteous people. (See Genesis 18:26-33.) I don’t know what percentage of the two cities 10 people were, but it had to be just a comparative handful. The Lord is generous.

As I read through the wording of the renewal covenant (see below), I could see that I am already a covenant keeper. I have been, as well as I have known how, all of my life, and I made the baptismal covenant at age 8 (also into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). While I didn’t do Glenn’s daily reading for 40 days, I did several catch up days. But I was reading quite a lot of scripture daily in addition—as I have done for many decades. And prayer is already part of my daily life—I can’t remember a single day when it wasn’t. And I have shared my faith with my family. As Joshua says (Joshua 24:15) the people should choose whom they will serve, “but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Later in the chapter (verses 24-25) the people promise to serve the true and living God, “So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day.” Then he set up the laws of the land based on that covenant.

People are blessed when they live in a covenant relationship with the Most High God.

So here is the covenant that Glenn Beck has drafted for us—in what I hope will be a worthwhile effort to renew the covenant upon which America was founded. (You can get a pdf. version here.) 

 

The Covenant

I, STATE YOUR NAME, alongside my fellow countrymen, and as a witness to my nation and the Almighty, now come forward in humility to covenant that the Lord is my God. I further covenant to remember to regularly commune with Him through prayer; to turn away from sin and error; to rear my family in righteousness, in patience, love, and kindness; to discern and sustain the law; and to perform my several duties properly, punctually, and to the utmost.

Now, if the Lord shall please to hear us, and inasmuch as we honor this covenant, then shall His bounty be poured down upon us as has never been seen.

We humbly implore and beg His protection and favor; that we may experience His everlasting peace and concord; that our own sins, those of our family, those of our nation may be pardoned; that the disunity in our country and suffering may be healed, that once again our family shall delight in each other, and we shall rejoice together, mourn together, and increase together. The Lord will be our God and delight to dwell among our families, so that we partake of His wisdom, power, goodness, and truth. Love and solidarity shall reign within our households.

May our nation unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care, for His protection, that He may promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue. He shall grant unto this nation temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best. No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand created this great nation. It is the gracious gift of the Most High God. Only his tender care shall heal this nation's wounds. He will raise it to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, union, and plenty.

He has made us a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. We enlist His almighty hand that we may once again choose life, that we and our seed may live by obeying His voice and cleaving to Him. He is our life and our prosperity. May my family and this country ever stand in solemn testimony of the most High.

Amen.

Four Hundred Years of Thankfulness

The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. It was a year later, 400 years ago now, that the survivors got together to celebrate the harvest with the native Wampanoag tribe—which included Chief Massasoit, Samoset, and Squanto, the only English-speaking native within hundreds of miles, all of whom had helped the Pilgrims survive and learn to plant a better (and earlier) crop than they had their first season.

"The Embarkation of the Pilgrims" by Robert Walter Weir
image from Wikipedia

Here’s a piece of the history, told in this American Thinker article: 

The truth is, when the Mayflower pilgrims and the Wampanoag sat down for the first Thanksgiving in 1621, it was a routine—and amicable—harvest celebration. Seven months prior to that feast, they had negotiated a peace treaty, one that lasted for nearly 50 years. In fact, that 1621 treaty was the only one between Native Americans and English colonists to be honored throughout the lives of all who signed it. It was diseases such as smallpox and leptospirosis that largely and tragically led to the decimation of the Wampanoag tribe.

More on that last detail in a bit.

Thanksgiving Day hasn’t continued without missing years—or decades, or centuries—since that time. One of the first Thanksgiving Day celebrations of the newly formed United States of America was proclaimed by President George Washington on October 3, 1789, marking the last Thursday of November than year as “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God.” Even after that time, the celebration wasn’t continual. But it is a deeply entrenched tradition now, and has been since well before my lifetime.

As many of us are doing, I am taking time with family. And I’m doing a fair amount of cooking. We have a plethora of dogs with us this year (our huge puppy is learning to welcome guests and perform other social graces). We’re doing it because of tradition and the desire to be together. But we’re also doing it because thankfulness is a beautiful thing to celebrate.

I’ve been keeping a gratitude journal for several months now. I think of plenty to be thankful for in prayers morning and night and in between, but it is sometimes challenging to find the one thing worth writing down every day. But social science suggests what scriptures have long told us, that gratitude is a way to a happy life, so it has become a habit I want to keep.

An attitude of gratitude is a definite plus in the how-to-live-a-good-life advice. But it’s more than just an attitude; it is an offering as a token of return, even if only a word of thanks. And thanks is not simply about the things you’re thankful for; it’s about who you give that thanks to. And while we often have people to thank for specific things, this day is actually about giving thanks to God.

A study out of Brigham Young University “suggests gratitude to God—and an indebtedness to Him—is far more meaningful and impactful than simply gratitude alone. In other words, counting your blessings without recognizing their source will not give you true happiness.” 

When you give thanks this day, give it to God, to whom you owe all blessings—even those you haven’t noticed yet.

In that American Thinker article, the surprising thing is that there is something of a movement (that I hope does not gather any more energy to move further) saying that we shouldn’t be thankful—for the Pilgrims, for our great nation, for our prosperity; we should be sorrowful, and probably ashamed. And therefore we should re-designate the day as a day of mourning. Mourning, I’m assuming, that we as a people ever arrived on this continent, or that the nation was ever formed.

The article’s author, Eric Utter, offers this commentary:

My oldest brother—who recently passed—had cancer, glaucoma, and Alzheimer's—and when anyone asked him how he was doing, even shortly before he died, he would reply, "Better than I deserve!"

I guess that is partly why I previously found Democrats' incessant grievance-mongering and the cult of victimhood so repulsive and so damaging. Dividing us by identity, I thought, is disgusting. Encouraging jealousy, entitlement, and bitterness is a recipe for disaster. Wouldn't it be much healthier for all of us as Americans to come together in the love of our country, heritage, and unique founding ideals? Or our shared ordeals? I used to believe that if we could all come together with gratitude, that itself would be something for which we could all be thankful.

Apparently the “mourning” pushers think we should feel guilty for "celebrating the genocide of the Wampanoag tribe"—as if anyone getting together this day, with loved ones, to thank God for our blessings ever thought the diseases that badly affected the Pilgrims’ Wampanoag friends was a good thing. What a lie! Eric Utter references this story that calls actual history a myth, so as to invent an actual myth that is far uglier than what actually happened. 

It’s hard to know when to respond to such nonsense and when to ignore it. This year I’ve become aware. If such a thing gains traction, I’ll see what I can to do shout it down (in my quiet blogger way).

In my personal celebration, I’ve been looking for things worth sharing here. I’ll just reference a few:

·       “Barton: Let’s Thank the Pilgrims for Defeating Socialism This Thanksgiving” Tim Barton of Wallbuilders, November 18, 2021.  He gives the history of the tragic follow-up to the 1621 Thanksgiving, when the Pilgrims tried out a form of socialism that nearly killed them. They recovered by returning to private property, for which we can be grateful—and from which example we should learn as a cautionary tale.

1780 Proclamation for a Day
of Thanksgiving in Massachusetts

·       “Proclamation–Thanksgiving Day–1780,Massachusetts” image of the original provided by Wallbuilders, written and signed by then-Massachusetts Governor John Hancock.

·       “The story behind President Nelson’s global prayer of gratitude and invitation to #GiveThanks” Church News in the Deseret News, November 25, 2020.   This includes the video referred to, which can be seen on YouTube here, and included below. It’s about the healing power of gratitude, and could suffice as all I’d want to say here today.

·       “The Pilgrims’ Epic, TRUE Story Sounds a Lot Like Afghanistan” Tim Barton speaks with Glenn Beck, November 19, 2021, showing him an original Geneva Bible carried on the Mayflower and used by the Pilgrims. They discuss some of the history that led to the Pilgrims’ coming—and coming so late in the year—back in 1620. 

Please enjoy President Nelson talking about the healing power of gratitude, and then have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Give Thanks

A week ago the President of our Church, Russell M. Nelson, spoke to the world briefly, around noon our time. He had a message of hope for us during this time of trial. And he had a suggestion for us, to use our social media as our gratitude journal for a week. Each day, for seven days, post something we are grateful for. And use the hashtag #GiveThanks, so we could see it happening.

So I did that. It was more posting than I usually do in a week, but it felt good and caused good interactions with friends. And I saw a huge amount of things to be thankful for on friends’ posts.

One friend noted that, what is hard is deciding what to mention. You can’t narrow it down. It’s like naming your favorite book, or movie, or song. Too many, in too many categories. But it is a healthful exercise, to recount at least some of the things we can give thanks for. Maybe it's something we should keep up, whether online or off, for the foreseeable future.

I’m a day late with this post—I took an actual holiday yesterday—but I thought I’d share my #GiveThanks posts, just to add some positivity here.

 

Friday, November 20

I thank Thee, O God, for this prophet. #GiveThanks

Screenshot, link is to this video

Saturday, November 21

I am thankful for these four practically perfect and always interesting grandkids. #GiveThanks

Sunday, November 22

I am grateful for music. Lilly had me count once the instruments in our music room, but there are more. At some level I play the piano, organ, mountain dulcimer, guitar, ukulele, soprano recorder, alto recorder, penny whistle, and kalimba. While my voice shows serious effects of allergies and age, when I sing I feel God's joy. The photo is me playing dulcimer with friends at a folklife festival in 2015. A week ago some of us played together, distanced, at a park. It felt good to play together once again. #GiveThanks

Monday, November 23

There's this family I made together with [Mr. Spherical Model]. Every one is smart, funny, talented, and good—and we love being around each other. Weren't we cute 25 years ago? The other photos are 4 years ago. We need to update again sometime soon; we're missing a grandchild in that one, so she's in that fourth one from this September. Just have to say, even being stuck at home together is not too much of each other. We've thrived with the together time with each other, and just miss more time with the kids and the littles. #GiveThanks

Tuesday, November 24

I am thankful for our home, which we had built for us when we moved to TX in 1998. It has been a refuge from the world. It was our school for ten years. It's not grand, but it's the nicest home I've ever lived in. I guess I don't take enough photos of just our house; I couldn't find one today. But here are some from inside rooms that I worked on. #GiveThanks

 

Wednesday, November 25

I'm thankful for books. Never too many. These images aren't mine; I've just collected them. (I collect books too, of course.) #GiveThanks [Note the images in this section are things I’ve collected from Facebook, Pinterest, and other places that I’m not currently able to track down. I do not intend to take credit for anyone else’s work, nor fail to credit them.]

Thursday, November 26

I'm thankful for food. There's a lot of food I don't get to eat, but what I eat is delicious to me. Strawberries are my favorite. And sometimes there are other goodies I enjoy making for other people, just to see them enjoy them. #GiveThanks

Giving Thanks For and To

Gratitude, it is said, is the way to happiness. In a world—a fallen world, as we say in Christianity—where there’s plenty of bad things happening, and even purposeful malevolence, the way to happiness is to notice and appreciate the good.

image found here

A common suggestion for those suffering depression is to keep a gratitude journal, a daily recognition of good things. It helps shift the focus away from the bad that is so easy to find.

But there’s something about the word gratitude that we should notice: you are grateful for something, and you are grateful to someone. Simply being grateful, in a vacuum without the connection, is something else. Contentment. Gladness. Maybe resignation. But not gratitude.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, a synonym for gratitude, let’s notice what we’re thankful for—count those blessings. And also notice who merits our gratitude. That could be family members, friends, people who have done good things for us, or who are loving toward us.

But with every good thing we’re thankful for, and every good person we’re thankful to, there’s another layer of thanks to give. That is to God. He placed those good people in your life. He blessed you with the opportunities and the life, and the support. He even gives peace and comfort when you face the inevitable bad things that happen in every life.

I’d been thinking about this idea—that gratitude, or thanks, must be give to someone—for a few days now, after watching a debate between Jordan Peterson and Susan Blackmore. It’s from June, and was done in Great Britain, I believe. And the debate is about the relative merits of atheism and religion. There’s just a small portion that refers to gratitude. Susan Blackmore, the atheist, brings it up. And Jordan Peterson insists that gratitude can’t be just free floating.

Jordan Peterson (right) debates Susan Blackmore
screen shot from here

In this part of the conversation, Jordan Peterson has just pointed out that there’s a lot that undergirds society that was bloodily fought for. You can’t just decide you’re separate from that when you’re the beneficiary of whatever built civilization for you. Susan Blackmore tries to agree, that she’s grateful. But he doesn’t let her get away with calling that gratitude free floating. This is about 30 minutes in:

SB: All that leads me to gratitude for all that we have. I mean, I recognize that. I recognize that has nothing to do with any religious basis at all. I recognize that I could not come on the train here, have a really interesting discussion, meet Justin again, have a nice glass of cold water, without a lot of other people doing it for me. That gratitude, which is one of the things that you quite rightly put into your book, it gives good place to it. It’s very important. That doesn’t come from anything religious, unless you say that because I was brought up a Christian, it came from there. But I don’t base it on that anymore.

JP: Where do you think it comes from?

SB: I think it comes from a recognition that—  I’ve done a lot of meditation. I’ve meditated every day for thirty years, and I think that this has something to do with it. But it’s observing the inner consequences of different ways of confronting the world. And I’m much more in recent years in the habit of waking up in the morning, even if it’s raining in January in England, and looking out and going, Ah! And it’s a feeling of gratitude. Not gratitude towards God, or towards anybody or anything. Just free-floating gratitude. That seems to have a positive consequence. I set the day up better. And it’s kind of self-perpetuating. It pops up again and again.

Moderator: Do you think you can just have gratitude in general, or must gratitude always be given towards something, and ultimately…?

JP: Well, that’s a good question. That goes back to our discussion about acting things out. Gratitude is something you feel towards something. And you can say, “Well, I don’t feel it towards anything in particular.” And I would say, “Well, all right, that diffuse nothing that you feel it toward serves in your psychological hierarchy as your equivalent of God.”

SB: You know, but it’s gratitude— This morning for example, I looked out and it was so green. We’ve had frosts and white the last few days, and it was green this morning. And it was just gratitude to the universe, if you like. It’s not really God, because it’s not a creator. It’s not anything I can pray to. It’s—  I mean…

JP: Why do you feel gratitude towards it, then?

SB: I don’t know, but I find—

JP: That’s fine.

There’s no resolution here between them. They go on to other things. But I think Dr. Peterson has won the point. You can’t have gratitude without it being directed somewhere, toward someone. And “whatever serves in your psychological hierarchy as your equivalent of God” is what you’re aiming that toward.

I prefer to be more direct. I think the God I pray to, and believe is my loving Creator, who made me with purpose, is worthy of my thanks. And I offer that to Him. In addition, there are the loving people around me who also deserve the thanks I give.

Giving that thanks does indeed make life happier than it would be without the recognition and appreciation for the good.

May you find much in your life to give your thanks for and to!