Here are 4 paragraphs from an article I wrote on Thanksgiving for Southwest Nebraska News a few years ago.
Our word “thank” developed from an even more common good old five-letter word – think. Thank comes from think. I don’t know just how the development went, but we can imagine. I think of your kindness. I think of you and want to let you know that I think of your kindness. Then somehow this use of “think” begins to be pronounced a little differently. I thank of you. I thank you. I give thanks. Maybe it went something like that.
Sometimes we do not enjoy truly good aspects of life because we do not practice “thinks-giving” toward them. Sometimes we even lose very precious things because we have not taken time to discover how precious they are….
Humans have brains; we are rational creatures capable of giving focused attention. We ought to apply those gifts to the most wonderful, most precious, or most beautiful things in our lives. There’s something about the way we’re made that enables joy and a sense of blessedness to come from calm attentiveness to the truly good things in life. Seriously. There is increased pleasure available to those who will notice the blessings they already have. It’s a matter of leveraging present blessing into even greater happiness. It’s not pollyannaish; it’s the realism of attending to and getting full value from one’s assets.
Plus, of course, being a “thinks-giver” makes me more alert to preserve and promote the things I value, since I am more aware of what they are.
Views: 32