Passage
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Reflection
It’s easy for a family to give thanks when there’s something big to celebrate: good news, a healing, a problem that finally got resolved. It’s much rarer for a family to stop and give thanks during an ordinary week, with no special news at all, or even in the middle of a hard season where nothing seems worth being grateful for.
Paul doesn’t ask the church to give thanks only when things go well. He asks something more demanding: “in every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). He doesn’t say “give thanks for everything,” as if every hard thing should be celebrated. He says “in every thing,” which suggests that even in the middle of hard circumstances, there’s always something that remains true and good to be thankful for, even if it isn’t the circumstance itself.
A family that practices this in small ways, naming out loud one specific thing they’re grateful for before a meal, or at the end of the day, is building something that shows up more in hard moments than in easy ones. Not because gratitude fixes the problem, but because a family used to naming the real good that’s still present has more practice finding it even when it’s hard to see.
The psalmist sums it up with a reason that doesn’t depend on how the day went: “O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever” (Psalm 107:1). That goodness doesn’t change based on how the week turned out. And a table where a family stops, even for a minute, to name it out loud, is a table learning something that lasts longer than the meal served that night.
Prayer
Lord, thank you that your goodness doesn’t depend on how our week went. Help us, as a family, to make a habit of pausing to give thanks, even on hard days. May we learn together to name your goodness out loud, and may that habit hold us up when things don’t go the way we hoped. Amen.