16 Rejoice evermore.
17 Pray without ceasing.
18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Gammy and I spent yesterday with our younger daughter's family as it was Gammy's birthday and the previous Thursday had been the older granddaughter's. Food and gifts abounded.
Thanksgiving is kind of a daily thing at their house. They tell what they are thankful for each evening as they sit down to eat. Yesterday was no exception.
We all took a turn from youngest to oldest.
Here the girls are slightly "oilified" to protect their identity digitally while still giving you a sense of the day. They are making blueberry hand pies.
When it became my turn, I thought about the sign at the crossroad near their home and what the Apostle Paul had said to the church at Thessaloniki. "In every thing give thanks..."
In every thing.
He does not say in every good thing give thanks.
In his letter to the Roman church he says the following:
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
... all things work together for good to them that love God...
My offering of thanks was something like this:
"Paul said in all things give thanks. Not for the good, but for everything.
"I am thankful that although Gammy's family walked through here on the Trail of Tears some 150 years ago, they made it to their destination. Had they not, I would not have Gammy, the girls, nor the granddaughters.
"I would not be where I am, nor know the people that I do.
"Good has come of it."
That's not exactly how it came off, but it was my intent.
The Trail of Tears was not a joyous time, but there was a good outcome for some people. I am not trying to minimize it nor rationalize it. This is where I stand.
The finished product of what the girls were working on (left) and a pumpkin pie using spiceberry (Ardisia crenata), a native plant, rather than allspice.
The above quotes are from letters written by Paul of Tarsus to a church in western Asia and the one in Rome some time in the mid-first century.
Paul was not a man who had his head in the clouds believing that everything was right with the world. Contrarily, he knew that things were certainly terrible.
He was beaten for his beliefs, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked, and ultimately beheaded in Rome.
In all this, he urged his fellow believers that they should pursue what was good and righteous, not holding grudges, and loving their brothers and those who treated them harshly.
You, alone, choose whether or not to be grateful and give thanks. You, alone, choose to be miserable or to hold grudges. You, alone, are responsible for what you choose.
