(This was first published the day after Thanksgiving 2009.)

It’s the day after the ritual.

We are exhausted and confused. Our bodies aren’t used to that much food, to this much time out of the routine, to the tension between expectations and reality.

The antidote for the day after Thanksgiving confusion is not shopping. It is giving.

Giving thanks.

The best way to make sure that our thankfulness is not limited to one day but becomes part of a life of gratitude is to spend the day after thanksgiving giving thanks.

There are people in the Bible who have a life of gratitude even when the conditions of their lives weren’t great.

Paul constantly thanks God for the people he writes to, even when all he can thank God for is the fact that He is working on them. And Paul had physical and emotional and spiritual challenges all the time, from inside and out.

David constantly thanks God, except when he is talking about oceans and mountains thanking God. And when he is inviting everything that has breath to thank God.  And David spent the first part of his life being picked on, the next part of his life being chased, the next part being king, and then next part of his life dealing with a fractured family.

I know that sometimes it is hard to thank God for. “Thank you for this horrible experience” feels wrong somehow. “Thank you that“, however, can be just as accurate. “Thank you that I was preserved, that you were present, that you think outside of time, that justice isn’t momentary.”

It may be challenging today to be thankful. That’s fine. It’s a good test of how much gratitude we have.

We gotta start somewhere.

“I thank God every time I think of you.” See? Not so hard. Of course, meaning it…