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Make Thankfulness Your Default Setting

The theme for my thoughts today is: Make thankfulness your default setting.

One day a few years ago, around this time of year, I was making some pastoral calls at one of our hospitals and heading to my next appointment. It was a full day, an over-committed day.

I didn’t think I would need my GPS, but I made some wrong turns and was on a very icy street in a less than safe neighborhood with less gas in my tank than I would like.  In trying to turn around, with my heart racing in annoyance, I was facing a very small and dilapidated church building.

Then the little marquee in front came into view: "Thank God for what you have. Trust Him for what you don’t."

What struck me as I sat and got over my annoyance was the order of that saying: “Thank God for what you have; trust Him for what you don’t.”

I started to wonder, “If I remember to be thankful first, what would trust in my life look like?  What will lots of things in my life look like?”

During the season of thanksgiving each year, I am reminded of the importance of living thankfully. 

I remind myself each year that the practice of thankfulness should not be something that is simply attached or tacked on to my Christian life. It should be woven throughout my life.  I still ask the Holy Spirit to make thankfulness an ingrained attitude and habit in me. 

I’ve mentioned that the title of my devotional today is “make thankfulness your default setting.” What is a default setting?  All technology has default settings. My smartphone has a default internet browser, my fridge has a default cooling setting, and my vacuum has a default brush.  Many of us don’t change the defaults on our tech. We usually think that a current setting is good enough for technology to do its job. 

We as humans have our own default settings.  We might think of them as our core behaviors and beliefs.  When I do something by default, I do it without thinking about it. 

With this in mind, I was drawn to the book of Colossians, which is one of my favorites in the whole Bible, because it is such a strong, positive letter to the early Christians by the apostle Paul.  In this letter Paul is thankful or inserts it prominently no less than seven times throughout the book in each of its four short chapters. 

2:6-7 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

True thankfulness by its very nature is not only the right lens for our view of life, but it is most effective when it is overflowing.  Again, this phrase of overflowing with thankfulness is not an afterthought or something tacked on to the essence of the Christian life.  

Verse 7 speaks of being rooted and built up. This is using an image of nature of a strong and growing tree. 

Now, in the image for thankfulness, he is thinking of a water fall or a faucet you can’t turn off. 

This is important because when the flow of the Spirit is operating in thankfulness it can overwhelm and wash away smallness, pettiness, and selfishness. Everything and everyone is a gift, out of which we can maximize some benefit.  

Put your heart into thankfulness, in order for it to overflow. You probably thank others throughout the day without really thinking about it. It’s basic manners, after all. But how often do you really thank with eye contact, full attention, in heartfelt moments of really letting someone know how thankful you are for them and what they do. For your family, it might be a daily check-in. Or it could be something you do to catch another person by surprise. 

Remember that abundance of thankfulness becomes circular. It can put into motion a reciprocal effect. It can set the mood or climate wherever you are, even online, between you and another person.

Paul takes this to the next level as he talks to them about their lives together and says in 3:15-17: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

How do we live verse 15? By sharing with others which can bring harmony and peace.

How do we live verse 16? Share your gratitude list with others.  Not just the things you are thankful for, but as I already mentioned, telling others that you are thankful for them.  We need to do this more in the body of Christ.  This helps to strengthen connections with others.

We should be entering fully into the praise and worship with the gathered community.  Sing with sincerity and sing loud.  If someone stares at you, smile and keep going. Or if someone is singing loud, you match and exceed it. 

How do we live verse 17? Notice things, small and great.  A beautiful sunset.  The kids laughing in the next room. How your spouse always brews the coffee and sets your favorite mug next to the pot. Or your friend who always texts you back or sends an emoji or inspiring picture.  This helps to develop a muscle memory of appreciation for all of life. 

I had this experience with the sound of the train near our home. The other morning, I was fretting over things and then was annoyed at the sound of the train 250 yards away sometime around 4 am.  The Lord said, pray thankfulness. So I said, Thanks for the prosperity and commerce represented by that obnoxious train, thanks for our 16-year ministry at Richfield. Oh, and that annoying matter, thanks for giving me the perspective that it’s going to be OK. And I slept!

This brings us to some of the last words of Paul, short but powerful, having to do with prayer.

4:2: “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

Taking time in daily reflection in prayer is indispensable to making this work as your default setting. 

There should be a portion of your prayer time in which you set apart a moment to reflect on your life, past and present, with hope for the future, with thankfulness.

But this watchfulness, this alertness, is not what we usually would put with thankfulness.  But what happens when we do? We see a bigger role for thankfulness.  We find that not only will gratitude be cultivated in prayer, but prayer will be cultivated in gratitude. Watchful prayer is praying within God’s will. Thankfulness will keep me focused on where God’s will has been done, is being done, and will be done. 

Again, your prayer life will be more effective if part of being watchful and vigilant, in asking God to intervene in things and people with which you are concerned. We connect these things to thankfulness.  

Today I close with a benediction using a little song that speaks of thankfulness as a default setting.  It’s this great theological work, called White Christmas, and sung by 2 theologians, Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosby.   

When I’m worried
and I can’t sleep,
I count my blessings
instead of sheep,
and I fall asleep
counting my blessings.

When my bankroll
is getting small,
I think of when
I had none at all.
And I fall asleep
counting my blessings.

I think about a nurs’ry
and I picture curly heads,
and one by one I count them
as they slumber in their beds.

Sing this part: if you’re worried
and you can’t sleep,
just count your blessings
instead of sheep.
And you’ll fall asleep
counting your blessings.

- Dr. Jan Duce serves as Associate Pastor of Care & Connection at Richfield Church of the Nazarene and as adjunct professor at Nazarene Bible College.