What Were You Thanking?
Where I grew up, folks could turn a simple sentence into a linguistic rodeo. We had a way of trimming words, bending syllables, and letting the elongated vowels do the heavy lifting. So when somebody asked, “What were you thankin’?” you had to lean in and decide whether they meant thinking or thanking.
Most of the time? It was thinking.
But today, I want to flip that familiar phrase and ask you straight up:
Over this past year… for what were you thanking?
Not what you meant to thank God for.
Not what you should have been grateful for.
Not what you posted on Thanksgiving Day to keep up appearances.
No — for what did you actually open your mouth and your heart and consciously express gratitude?
Paul told the Thessalonians, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18). Notice he didn’t say “for everything,” but in everything. Life doesn’t hand out non-allergenic flowers with every sunrise. Sometimes it delivers briars, overdue notices, and the kind of curveballs that make you question whether the pitcher has something against you or just likes to see you swing and miss.
But even in that… gratitude is God’s will for you.
I heard a story about a guy drowning in debt. Bills stacked like Jenga blocks about to fall. He wanted to obey Scripture and “give thanks,” but he couldn’t find one single thing that didn’t feel pretentious. After pacing the floor, it finally hit him — “Ahh… I’m thankful I’m not one of my creditors.” A little dark? Maybe. But honest and relatable? Absolutely.
And sometimes honesty is the only door that will get you back into the house of gratitude.
This past year may have stretched you, bruised you, startled you, or worn grooves into your soul. Not everything went right. Not every prayer was answered on your timeline. Not every relationship held. Not every part of your body worked the way it used to.
But somewhere between January and December, heaven slipped blessings into your pockets — quiet ones, subtle ones, blink-and-you-miss-them ones—the kind you have to go back and remember on purpose.
Maybe you were thankful for the friend who didn’t flinch when your voice cracked.
Maybe you were grateful for a sunrise that felt like God whispering, “You’re not done yet.”
Maybe you thanked Him that the diagnosis wasn’t worse.
Maybe you thanked Him that your child came home.
Maybe you thanked Him for finally sleeping through the night.
Or maybe — just maybe — like that guy with the stack of bills, you thanked Him for something that wouldn’t make sense to anyone else… but kept you sane.
Gratitude doesn’t demand a perfect life. It simply requires a purpose-seeking heart.
When Paul wrote “in everything give thanks,” he wasn’t handing out a spiritual fortune cookie with a cute saying folded inside. He was giving us a survival tactic. Gratitude is the windshield wiper that clears the fog so you can see what God’s been doing right in front of you. So, let me ask you one more time, slow and steady:
For what were you thanking?
If the list feels thin, don’t panic. Today is a good day to start stretching that muscle again. Look around your life. Gather the little mercies—dust off the overlooked blessings. Give God what He’s been waiting to hear — not for His ego, but for your healing.
Make more room for thanking.