Thanksgiving

When Jesus healed ten lepers, only one came back to say thank you. The story is found in Luke 17:11-17. Nine forgot to be thankful, or at least to say it to Jesus. Rereading that story recently caused me to think about times I have forgotten to be thankful enough to say it. I review my prayer list daily - asking for specific things. I don't have a daily thank you list. I do offer up words of thanks when I pray, usually in general, but I often miss opportunities to say thank you to Jesus for something specific. I Thessalonians 5:18 says to "give thanks in all circumstances." So I want to be more conscious of naming what I am thankful for to Jesus, to family members, to friends, and others who touch my life. Psalm 103 speaks to this: "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." (103:2). The psalmist then spends the rest of that psalm naming those benefits.

In the leper story, Jesus appreciates the the one who came back to thank him. But he also says, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?" (Luke 17:17) Jesus didn't selfishly need them to thank him so he could be puffed up for healing them - what disappointed him was that they so quickly forgot what they had freely received. For all that I have freely received over many years, my thank you list is very long. I intend to be better at saying thank you to Jesus, my family, friends, and others than I have been.