Fertile Lutheran
November 25, 2015
Thanksgiving Service
The Thanksgiving Glass
I bet your mother told you to be thankful right? Then you should do it. But the bible told us to be
thankful first. We should do it. But why? Is it the law? No, we have a choice of being thankful or
not. The reason we should be thankful is because being thankful turns our hearts to God and
when we do that- we realize that His deep, deep love for us is more than enough. Pray
I can’t believe it’s Thanksgiving already tomorrow. I don’t know about you- but I am looking
forward to sitting down to a delicious dinner with my family. But Thanksgiving is more than just
a great meal- but a time to reflect on all we have been given and have. Food and clothing- home
and family; health and the freedoms we enjoy living in America to name just a few. We certainly
have a lot to be thankful for.
Having said that- let me ask you a question-are you happy and content with what you have right
now? Or are you secretly miserable, wishing you had something you don’t have?
You may have noticed a glass sitting on a table. I call it “the thanksgiving glass.” Let’s say the
glass represents your life and the water in it represents everything in your life. When you look at
the glass of water- what is the first thing you notice first? I’m guessing it’s how full or empty the
glass is.
But the more important question is not whether it is half full or half empty- but if you are
thankful for your glass and what’s in it?
If you were very thirsty-having that glass of water would make you very grateful it was yours.
But what if there was another glass sitting next to it full of your favorite beverage-cherry coke
for instance- (which is mine). Comparing the two- you might begin to wish you had the glass of
coke instead of your glass of water and begin to be no long contented or thankful for the water
even though you were very thankful for the water only a minute ago.
Imagine waking up one morning and receiving a phone call from your bank- telling you that they
were foreclosing you home. In shock you turn on the tv in time to hear breaking news of a stock
market crash- wiping out your life savings in a matter of minutes. You then get a call from the
doctor’s office telling you that you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and no sooner
had you hung up than you get a call from a state trooper informing you that there has been a
horrible accident and he needs you to come down to the morgue to identify your family. If you
are like me- you would be in despair-lost- not knowing what to do or think.
Now imagine- waking up and realizing it was only a bad dream. Your family is fine and well,
you are disease free and healthy- the stock market did not crash and your home is secure.
Wouldn’t you be happy? Even ecstatic? Dance around the room? I’m guessing you would never
again take for granted the things you have.