Thanksgiving in 2020 may look different this year. It has been a rough year, but we should be just as grateful as ever. However, our feelings may not always line up the way they should. 

So, if gratefulness is coming at a slower pace than usual, I challenge you to come up with at least 20 things to be thankful for amidst all the chaos of recent days. If we are honest, we should be able to come up with 2,020 reasons and many more to give thanks.

I believe gratefulness is a platform that raises us out of the pit. Each time we give thanks, we are lifted a little out of the darkness around us toward the light, but this is not why we give thanks. We give thanks because God is the giver of all good gifts. he is worthy of our gratefulness and praise. 

Don’t just count your blessings this year because that is what you are supposed to do, or so it will make you feel better. Count your blessings so you can be thankful to the giver. Expressing what you are grateful for to those around you is an awesome tradition, but it is not enough.

Imagine if someone gave you a gift, and you told everyone else how much you loved it and how grateful you were to have it, but you never thanked the person that actually gave you the gift. That is how we act when we name our blessings but never express our thanks to God. Give thanks to the giver because he is worthy of our gratefulness and praise. Give thanks because of who God is, not because of what he gives. 

“I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.” (Psalm 9:1) (NIV)