Colossians 3:15-17
The Rev. Adele K. Langworthy
Thanksgiving (November 26-29, 2025)
During this week when we celebrate Thanksgiving, I think it is safe to say that many of us will overeat – at least a little and indulge in a tasty dessert with little-to-no guilt. We will pause at least for a few moments to reflect on our lives and find things for which we are thankful. What a gift this holiday is — free from the trappings of gift giving and expensive expectations. Thanksgiving is a holiday that encourages us to pause and appreciate the gifts of our life, to give thanks to God for his wonderful provision and care. It draws us into a special place of gratitude unlike any other celebration.
I invite you to take a deep breath. Follow your breath in and out. When was the last time you thanked God for the ability to breath? Mark Batteson writes that we take approximately 23,000 breaths every day. What would it mean for us to be more aware of our breath and thank God for every single breath – and not just the one we breathe when our breath is taken away by beauty or when we can once again breath more deeply after an asthma attack?
I invite you now to focus on your mind and the thoughts that fill it. Shawn Achor, a psychologist who teaches at Harvard, suggests that we can train our brains to become more grateful by setting aside just five minutes a day for practicing gratitude. He cites a study in which people were asked for one-week to take five minutes a day, at the same time every day, to write down three things they were thankful for. They didn’t have to be big things, but they had to be concrete and specific, such as, “I’m thankful for the delicious Thai take-out dinner I had last night.” Or, “I’m thankful that my daughter gave me a hug.” Or, “I’m thankful that my boss complimented my work.” The participants simply expressed thanks for three specific things at the same time every day.
At the end of one month, the researchers followed up and found that those who practiced gratitude—including those who stopped the exercise after one week—were happier and less depressed. Remarkably, after three months, the participants who had been part of the one-week experiment were still more joyful and content. Incredibly, after the six-month mark, they were still happier, less anxious, and less depressed. The researchers hypothesized that the simple practice of writing down three thanksgivings a day over the course of a week primed the participants’ minds to search for the good in their lives. If we were to do this exercise, thanking God for three things every day, how much more we would be in search for evidence of God’s working in us and through us. I venture to say our list of thanks might grow to be quite long.
Whenever I think of thanking God for the small things, I remember this story from Christianity Today that I am sure I have shared with some of you before. The barracks where Corrie ten Boom and her sister, Betsy, were kept in the Nazi concentration camp, Ravensbruck, were terribly overcrowded and flea-infested. They had been able to miraculously smuggle a Bible into the camp, and in that Bible they had read that in all things they were to give thanks and that God can use anything for good.
Betsy decided that this meant thanking God for the fleas. This was too much for Corrie, who said she could do no such thing. Betsy insisted, so Corrie gave in and prayed to God, thanking him even for the fleas.
Over the next several months a wonderful, but curious, thing happened: They found that the guards never entered their barracks.
This meant that the women were not assaulted. It also meant that they were able to do the unthinkable, which was to hold open Bible studies and prayer meetings in the heart of a Nazi concentration camp. Through this, countless numbers of women came to faith in Christ.
Only at the end did they discover why the guards had left them alone and would not enter their barracks: It was because of the fleas.
I invite you now to feel your pulse. The American Heart Association says the best way to take care of our heart is to eat smart (make healthy choices), be well (be proactive with your self-care), and move more (don’t be sedentary). Is this not what our scripture passage highlights? There are three things we need to do not only to keep our physical hearts healthy, but our spiritual hearts healthy, as well.
First, to keep our heart healthy, we need to make the healthy choice of choosing God. We need to “let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts … let the word of Christ dwell in us richly”.
Actor Denzel Washington has publicly stated that he chooses to read his Bible every day and that he strives to consistently “get up and speak of what God has done for him.” He chooses to live in a constant attitude of gratitude for God. He says, “Give thanks for blessings every day. Every day. Embrace gratitude. Encourage others. It is impossible to be grateful and hateful at the same time. I pray that you put your slippers way under your bed at night, so that when you wake in the morning you have to start on your knees to find them. And while you’re down there, say ‘thank you’. A bad attitude is like a flat tire. Until you change it, you’re not going anywhere.”
Second, to keep our heart healthy, we need to be proactive for our spiritual care. It is vital we go to scripture; it is vital that we are in relationship with others that we might “teach and admonish one another in all wisdom”; and it is vital we worship God “with gratitude in our hearts singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God”.
Third, to keep our heart healthy, it is important that we are on the move for God – that “ whatever we do, in word or deed, we do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
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