Tag: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2025

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This will be a short read. About sixty-five years ago, I received my third-grade King James Bible. There were a few hoops to jump through, one of which was the memorization of Psalm 100.

A few weeks ago, nudged by my friend Angie Polejewski, I committed to reading Psalm 100 every day – each day in a new translation. As Thanksgiving (in the United States) arrives, I’m grateful for how rich and meaningful the experience has been.

For the sake of posterity – and your enjoyment – I’m sharing a few translations of Psalm 100 that I found particularly edifying…

1Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations. (NKJV)

1Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness and delight;
Come before His presence with joyful singing.
3 Know and fully recognize with gratitude that the Lord Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, not we ourselves [and we are His].
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4 Enter His gates with a song of thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, bless and praise His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His mercy and lovingkindness are everlasting,
His faithfulness [endures] to all generations. (AMP)

1Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the Lord!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God.
He made us, and we are his—
his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.
5 For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever;
his faithfulness, through all generations. (CSB)

1Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Worship the Lord with joy.
Enter his presence with joyful singing.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God.
He made us and we belong to him,
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise.
Give him thanks.
Praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good.
His loyal love endures,
and he is faithful through all generations. (NET)

JFK, Mr. Zabee, and Mr. Briggs

November 22, 2023

Sixty years ago today, President John F. Kennedy (JFK) was assassinated in Dallas, TX. I am in that category of people who remember the event well, who can say, “I remember exactly what I was doing when I heard the news.”

I was in Mr. Brigg’s fifth-hour, eighth-grade woodshop at Elk River Junior High School. It was the end of the class period. We were cleaning up the shop. I was about to put away the “showman’s box” that I designed and was building for use in storing gear for showing dairy cattle at fairs. As we were cleaning up the shop our principal, George Zabee, made the announcement that JFK had been shot and later died in the hospital. I remember that his voice cracked a bit as he made the announcement. I could tell he was audibly shaken (similar to Walter Cronkite’s visible reaction on TV that day).

As I pondered the events of 60 years ago, experiences with Mr. Briggs and Mr. Zabee came flooding back. Both played significant roles in my early teen development…

Mr. Briggs was my math and shop teacher that year. He made the beginnings of algebra and geometry fun, leaving us wanting more. He taught inductively (though I had no idea what that meant as an eighth-grader!). He took us on field trips to watch the progress he was making on the house he was building down by the river. I remember estimating the height of a flagpole, and discovering how to use trigonometry before we even knew what trigonometry was. He always had a puzzle of the week written on the board which taught us to work together and think critically.

Looking back, I think Mr. Briggs may have played a significant role in my interest in becoming a structural engineer. I also suspect he played a major role in the way I have been able to tutor high school students over the years, employing an inductive approach unbeknownst. As a shop teacher he steathfully integrated what we were learning in math. He piqued my interest in woodworking which is my occupation of leisure these days.

I am grateful for Mr. Briggs and the significant role he played in my life.

As I thought about Mr. Zabee this morning, similar feelings of gratitude surfaced. Mr. Zabee was my principal for six years – he followed my class to the high school when the incumbent principal retired. He was a big man – his very presence commanded respect. He grew up on a farm and took an interest in my farm experiences. Though one who wielded authority, we all knew that he cared about us and our well-being. So I wasn’t overly surprised to hear his voice tremble as he announced JFK’s assassination. (Something that occurred to me this morning: Mr Zabee was Catholic as was JFK. I remember that it was a big deal that the United States elected a Catholic, so Mr. Zabee might have been mourning more than the loss of his president).

I have so many stories I could share about Mr. Zabee, but this is the one that stood out the most to me as I pondered about November 22, 1963: Mr. Zabee met with a group of about 15 of us eighth graders weekly for 6-8 weeks. It was a “learning how to learn” experiment. I remember us doing exercises in observation and learning to “read between the lines.” Looking back I realize he was teaching us critical thinking skills. I suspect he played a major role in helping me become a more critical thinker. I suspect he also played a major role in the way I get to help young people today learn to think critically. I also suspect he played a major role in my becoming a life-long learner.

I am grateful for Mr. Zabee and the significant role he played in my life.

Several years ago at the suggestion of our pastor (based on Romans 16:3-15), I created a list of 26 people for whom I had an affinity, people who significantly impacted my life and faith. You can read about it in the post My 26. After the “My 26” exercise two years ago, I continued an ongoing list of people for whom I am grateful. That list continues to grow as God brings people to mind.

Mr. Zabee and Mr. Briggs made my list this morning.

This is Thanksgiving week in the United States. In keeping with the sentiment of Thanksgiving, it would be fitting to ponder and cherish the memories of those from our past who played caring and impactful roles in our lives. And maybe even start a “Gratitude List” and watch it grow over the years.

Thanksgiving 2022

A couple of years ago while meeting with my high school Young Life Campaigner (Bible study) group, we had the obligatory conversation about thankfulness, given that it was the Monday of Thanksgiving week here in America.

In the United States, the Thanksgiving holiday is a bit of a myth that came to the fore during the Civil War when President Abraham Lincoln, to foster unity, declared it a national holiday. I am aware that other countries have also set aside annual days to be thankful. Days set aside for thanksgiving are centuries-old, though feasting is a newer phenomenon. In centuries past, days of thanksgiving involved fasting, prayer, and supplication* to God. It reminds us of the Apostle Paul’s admonition in his letter to the Philippians…

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7, ESV).

During the conversation with the Campaigner guys, I asked if there was a difference between thankfulness and gratitude. In our initial responses, we thought the words basically meant the same and were interchangeable. Those who know me well would not be surprised to know that I sent them to their devices to look up the definitions of the two terms. We discovered something pretty interesting…

Thankfulness is an adjective and Gratitude is a noun.

To my English teacher friends, the significance of this distinction is not missed. The rest of us may need to dig a bit deeper. Being thankful is about being pleased and relieved, an adjective that describes how we feel. Gratitude, on the other hand, is the quality of being thankful coupled with a readiness to show appreciation and return kindness. Gratitude is about our character.

With my Campaigner guys, we developed an analogy that helped us make sense of the distinction between thankfulness and gratitude: I get the results of a difficult math test and my grade is better than anticipated, for which I am thankful! Gratitude, on the other hand, would be displayed when I connect with my teacher to show appreciation for the extra help she gave me. Thankfulness is more inward; Gratitude is outward. Thankfulness is more of a spontaneous response; gratitude, as with all character-building endeavors, takes time, effort, and intentionality, to which my wife, Barb, alluded in a FaceBook post a few years ago:

A couple years ago I decided to focus on the word gratitude. At first I just put copies of the word “gratitude” in places I would see throughout the day. After awhile the word became part of my daily thoughts. I would encourage anyone who desires to see life through a better lens to try this, I feel like it changed me for the better.

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

* Supplication is not a word we use much in our daily conversations. It basically means asking, even begging, for something with earnestness and humility.

Thanksgiving 2021

This is Thanksgiving week in the United States. In the last post (My 26), I referred to gratitude as a quintessential Christian virtue – a good lead-in to this holiday week. As I pondered what I might post this week, I was drawn to review what I posted a year ago. After reading it, I decided it was worthy of re-reading – enough that I would encourage others to do the same.

You can read the post, Thankfulness and Gratitude, here. Have a blessed week!