Thankfulness can be explained as a recognition and appreciation of something that has been done for you. But that doesn’t really seem to sum it up for me. Yes, part of being thankful is recognizing that something good has been done for you and then appreciating it, but there seems to be much more to it that I can’t really explain in words. I’m going to try anyway.
When I am thankful to someone for a thing they have done to or for me, I feel happy. I am glad that they did something nice for me. It makes me feel more like doing something nice for them. Not that I wouldn’t anyway, but it helps. They care for me, and I care for them. It has a part in strengthening relationships.
When I am thankful to God for anything at all, I feel happy. I am glad that He did something good to or for me. But there’s something different about my thankfulness to God that is not present in my thankfulness to another human being. I want to worship God. I want to worship Him anyway, but there is a special kind of worship when it sparks from a thankful heart. It’s an emotional and logical response. I like it.
Well… I still don’t feel much closer to describing or explaining that part of thankfulness that… I can’t describe or explain. But it has been good to think about it. What about you? What makes you thankful? What is thankfulness to you? What thoughts do you have on these things?