It’s November and we all start to lean into the month of gratitude. I too enjoy this time of year… not just because the calendar sets my focus on gratitude, but as the year starts to wind down, I like taking stock of wins, special moments from the year, relationships formed and nurtured and lessons learned. One thing particularly standing out to me is the “other” part of gratitude we don’t always mix in…. sacrifice.
I recently finished watching The Chosen and am currently waiting for the next season to drop. I really enjoyed the series… more than I thought I would. However, one thing that resonated with me was the sacrifice Jesus’ followers made to go with him and be part of His journey. I know from reading the Bible that many left their vocations but the overall sacrifice didn’t hit me until I watched scenes of husbands leaving their wives at home, parents letting their children go off into the unknown, families left behind that in their own way sacrificed too for Jesus’ ministry to play out as it did.
That reminded me that sacrifice joins gratitude over and over again in the Bible. From Old Testament to New we see gratitude and sacrifice going hand in hand. Abraham was willing to literally sacrifice his son before God provided a ram in the bush. Hannah prayed for a son, was so overwhelmed with gratitude (and the promise she made to God) and then gave her son to God’s service in the temple. The Israelites were grateful for their win in the battle of Jericho but not without first marching around the city time after time… their sacrifice paid through patience, trust, fatigue, and their egos. Joseph, celebrated all the blessings God gave him, but first he went through a period of his life being threatened by his siblings and others before being put in a prominent position. In the New Testament, we read about Paul and Silas who worshipped until midnight…. from a jail cell. Their feet in stocks, their bodies beaten… and in the same breath they are praising God and giving Him thanks. Over and over we see gratitude met with sacrifice.
One of my favorite stories of Jesus is when he fed the hungry crowd who had come to hear him preach. The day had gotten long and people were hungry, and of course, there was no Door Dash to save the day. One eager kid had brought some bread and some fish, of which he offered it Jesus. Jesus performed a miracle and multiplied the food to be more than enough to feed the crowd.
I like this story because.. well, who doesn’t love a story where there’s lots of food… but also because of Jesus’ example. He didn’t panic. He acted… but He acted alongside the Father. According to the Gospels (such as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), Jesus received the five barley loaves and two fish from the boy. He looked up, gave thanks, and blessed the food. He physically broke the loaves into pieces. And then He multiplied the pieces to feed the crowd.
I find it very fascinating that Jesus didn’t just multiply the food. He certainly could have done that. But He chose to first give thanks. Then He broke it. And only after the gratitude and the breaking did the food multiply. I don’t know about you, but I feel that often times gratitude and sacrifice, or breaking, has to happen before I am multiplied. Maybe that sacrifice isn’t as dramatic as jail cells and marching around cities. But it could look like quiet obedience, choosing an unpopular path, enduring through a hard time, choosing trust and faith in a time when it seems impossible. It could mean giving when your bank account is small or nonexistent. Or maybe it is choosing to love and forgive even when you are in “the right” to take justice or revenge.
Recently I was reminded of an old hymn I grew up singing in church, “Count Your Blessings.” The chorus’ lyrics are:
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
But the words from the verses didn’t hit me until I was thinking about the relationship between gratitude and sacrifice. The first verse says:
When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
And again in the last verse:
So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey's end.
In these lyrics we can see how hard times, challenges, and heavy burdens come in one hand while gratitude is in the other.
One last thought… there’s a teaching philosophy that is meant to help us appreciate good and bad, light and dark, rain and sunshine. Without one you don’t get the other and certainly don’t appreciate it without the other. I think in some ways sacrifice, hardships and challenges makes the gratitude even more sweeter… it certainly serves as a reminder to count our blessings.
So this year, as you look to November as your gratitude month, certainly celebrate those things you are thankful for and the blessings you can count. But don’t dismiss the sacrifice that comes with it… not to diminish the gratitude or put a damper on your celebration. But do so in such a way that when the calendar flips and we’re long past the “gratitude month,” you aren’t tempted to lose sight of the gratitude moments in light of the hard days and hardships. And if nothing else, let us see our hard days as reminders to take time to be thankful. “This day (or season) is so hard… I am going to be in such a great position to be thankful… I might even sing until midnight!”
