Why is it when someone compliments me on what I’m wearing, I’m uncontrollably compelled to offer at least one piece of trivia about it?
“Thanks, I found it on clearance for $14.99 at that little shop on Main.”
“Thanks, it’s got pockets!”
“Thanks, I almost didn’t wear it because it’s dry-clean-only and I want pizza.”
No one wants those details. It was a compliment, not a summons to testify in federal court. Yet I’m bound by some weird, irresistible law of the compliment/trivia exchange. Why? Why can’t I simply say thank you and let it go at that?
Except wait. Hold up on the pockets. I think I’ll give myself a pass on that one. Pockets are too magnificent not to mention. Pockets are happiness. People need to know. So I’ll just say it this way: in matters not pocket-related, a simple thanks will do.
When it comes to our relationship with our God, however, thanks is still pretty simple to give, but anything but trivial. Thanksgiving can have a powerfully significant impact on how we worship, and how we live.
Anytime we feel our worship is falling a little flat, thanksgiving is one of those little details to note. Getting rid of any sin, of course. But then, a thanks-check. We’re told in Psalm 100 thanks is the entryway into a heart-place of worship. Psalm 95:2 says, “Let’s enter his presence with thanksgiving” (CSB). Then again in Psalm 100:4 we’re instructed to “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name” (Psalm 100:4 CSB). The temple was all about the presence of God. The gates are the entrance. We’re called to enter into His holy presence through a doorway of thanks. Praise Him in the courts! All the courts. It’s like an inner summons to testify, and it’s the utmost praise-filled testimony.
As we thank and praise Him, we recount His love and faithfulness and blessings. We celebrate and bask in His mercy and in His provision. We find ourselves remembering and delighting in all that He is and all that He’s done. We find the sweetest communion with Him in His presence as we meditate on our God of love. At our thanks, worship begins in the deepest part of our hearts, and we can experience His presence in ways that grip our heart all day long. Can you imagine what happens in our day as we make thanksgiving a way of life, practiced and intentional? Freedom. Grace. Trading discontentment for joy. Sweet exchanges—nothing trivial. We carry that into every detail of life. Like tucking joy into the warmest, happiest happy-pockets.
Let’s face it, I’ll probably always give way too many details. The trivia exchange is just about as engrained in my psyche as my love for pizza and pockets—oh, and pizza pockets, now that I think about it. But I want to pay attention to the details of thanksgiving and worship so much more than all of that. Every day. (Though let’s be real, I should still pay at least a little attention to what I buy—and what I wear on every pizza day. Why is anything ever dry-clean-only?)