If life was a stop watch you could control it with a click. You'd be able to edit out the difficult events, people, or moments that trouble us most days, and on thanksgiving. With a stop watch the biblical rules about thanksgiving would be null and void. You'd have a pass from the inclusives--- everything, everybody, and always.
Of course, life isn't a stop watch. We can step away from the traffic, ease up on the velocity, take a breather from the pace. But, we can't click it off. The meter is running. And we're told to be thankful for everything, which includes everybody I think, always.
It's from the quill of the Apostle Paul, this troubling instruction. He wrote, "speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music from your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ..." (Ephesians 5:19-20). Sounds like life should be a prayer meeting too, great moments of worship and praise, a thanks fest for every- thing, always. No exceptions, exclusions, or off button.
No doubt we've all had times when we've wondered "how can I be thankful for this?" The daily treadmill is rarely a prayer circle, and the realities of living in a fallen world are perpetually evident. So, the "everything" of gratitude is grounded in the truth that He is always working for our good and that He will bring His work to completion. The promise of His finishing the work He started in us doesn't dull the edge of hard times or ease the weight of trials. But, it does produce endurance in us so we can persevere those everything hardships.
So, what about "always". How do I give thanks for everything with no down time, no button to click the timer off while it hurts. I can only speak for me, but it's another promise that bridges "always". It's from Peter's first letter. The phrasing of the New International Version registers most clearly with me. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time" (1 Peter 5:6). There's the idea that a "due time" is coming, His time. Due time doesn't click us out of the burden but through it. It also places us humble before Him as the hardship presses us. There's no better place to be when "always" is happening than under His mighty hand.
Life is real, and it's often hard. Tests and trials and trouble are what Jesus promised His followers. He also promised them that He had overcome the world. Then there are the times---seconds, minutes, weeks, and possibly years---when His always commands push us beyond our boundaries, under His mighty hand.
And, you can't click that off either.
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