Give Thanks

Yesterday I posted about my Techno-fail Sunday.  I up played the fact that things were breaking all around me.  What I should have been doing was thanking God for the ability to fix those things in short order.

How quickly I forget that it is all Him and not me.

It is nothing new.  I have often felt ashamed of the good things God has given me and down played them.  I've been ashamed of good grades and handsome sons; relative wealth; even good health when those around me are sick.  So I frequently don't mention my successes.

This article changed that.  It is by Dale Hansen, a local sports caster who feels that it is inappropriate for a player to thank God after a victory.   In his words....

But I don't like it - don't like it at all - when any athlete in pro, college, or high school, points to the sky while celebrating whatever game or play they made.

It does seem to me that they're giving thanks for the winning, which would then have to mean God really didn't like the guys on that other team.  And why didn't he help them?

Even I'm not arrogant enough to think that I'm the chosen one...and many of you think I'm the most arrogant guy you know.

I've never believed that a God would care about who wins or loses a game, and I seriously doubt that He would be wasting his time on that....
 

By extension it would then be wrong to give thanks for anything.  Wrong to give thanks that I was able to replace my broken sewing machine with a new one.  Wrong to give thanks that I was able to replace my broken I-pad with a new one.  Wrong to give thanks that we didn't have a wreck because of the nail in my tire. 

I don't think Mr. Hansen gets it, but I do and I need to act like it.

I give thanks not because I am better - it isn't arrogance that makes me nod to heaven when something good happens.  It is humility.

I know that I do not deserve the things that I have any more than anyone else.   There is nothing that special about me...not more so than any of you.  I know that, so I give thanks.

I know that I do have a loving father in heaven that has plans to prosper me.  His plans are for my good...even when life doesn't look that way...which it often does not.  When it does look good don't I have all the more reason to give thanks?!

I know that God desires my praise.  Glory belongs to my God, not to me.  So I give thanks.  I should do it more often and more freely....even if it does get me kicked out of the big game.

Thanks Mr. Hansen for reminding me.