Are you bored with your life? Are you longing for something majestic with global impact? This Thanksgiving, could it be that God wants you to be thankful for the ordinary? After all, you have enough clothes to wear something new each day for at least a week or more. Your house is likely warm and safe, your kids and grandkids attend schools where they are well taught, you’re free to speak out with your ideas, to practice your religion and to vote in government elections.
Yet we long for greatness, radical change and extraordinary power in lieu of being thankful for everyday life. I’d love us to consider falling in love with the everyday, the regular, the non-spectacular. I’m recovering the claim that a smile from a grandchild can point us to God’s blessing, that a purple and orange sunset can cause us to run to God with thanks, and that a job well done at the office would remind us to thank God for the talent he placed in us. Let’s worship God while creating a complex spreadsheet or closing a deal.
In Romans, the writer Paul exhorts us in chapter 12 that our everyday ordinary lives should be offered to God as a sacrifice: “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him” (Romans 12:1-2 The Message).
God is telling us that our daily tasks, yes, even buying a company or washing our coffee cup, can glorify God and we can do it giving thanks to Him. You don’t have to fly to South America or Africa to have God smile on your life, so we can be thankful for all we get to do day by day.
The writers of the New Testament section of the Bible begin writing many of their letters giving thanks. Check these passages out:
Rom 1:8
Eph 1:15
Phil 1:3
1 Timothy 1:12
1 Thess 1:2
2 Thess 1:3
This Thanksgiving, as you look back on your year and recall where God showed up, remember that you can give thanks for the ordinary as well as the extraordinary.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Greg Leith
Greg Leith is the CEO of Convene. He was born in Canada and lived in all four corners of North America. His career spans over 35 years of senior leadership roles in corporate, non-profit and academic sectors. Recently, he served as Director of Strategic Alliances for 13 years at Biola University in California.