These are 3 common phenomena I have observed among us – Christians when it comes to Thanksgiving.

1. Happy-Mode-Only Thanksgiving

We often limit our Thanksgiving to times when we are happy and excited about something new that just happened.

For instance, we got some huge money, got married, had a baby, bought a car, passed an examination, etc. These things are beautiful and we should definitely thank God for them because He made them happen.

But beyond these, we should also thank God when nothing new has happened. We should be able to thank God every single day without having to be mustered up by some exciting new things.

The fact that we can offer Thanks unto God itself is exciting. We should go to God with excitement thanking Him for what was, what is, and what would be.

2. Monotonous Thanksgiving

Over time, we become so lazy with Thanksgiving that we keep saying the same things over and over. We are not aware that our Thanksgiving has been filled with the same sentences or even phrases, year in, and year out.

When we do, we tweak it a little bit, add a few more things to it, and keep it that way for another 7 years.

For instance, we’d say things like:

a. I thank God for life
b. thank God for good health
c. I thank God for salvation

And that’s all. But there’s more we could thank God for. We should be creative in our thanksgiving and offer a variety of gratitude to Him.

If we truly believe that God doesn’t eat food, and the most possible food to Him would be our Praise, Worship & Thanksgiving then we should offer it to him in varieties. I mean, we should thank Him for a diverse number of things. Just as we like the variety of foods and not just the same set of meals all year.

If we’d take time to think and become more intentional with Thanksgiving, we’d find thousands of things to Thank God for. The Holy Spirit is an Expert at pointing out such things.

3. God-Knows-it-All Attitude

In Thanksgiving, we approach God with a strong consciousness of the fact that He knows all things. Yes, he does know all things but like a lover he delights in us stating what He has done plainly and not just us recounting a few things and then hiding others under the canopy of ‘thank you for every other thing you know you have done’.

As humans, we are happier when people say ‘Thank you for doing A, B, and C’ rather than them saying – ‘Thank you for everything’

What exactly is ‘Everything’?

If you pick up an attitude of itemizing ‘Everything’ to God and totally refuse to ever use the word ‘everything’ in Thanksgiving, you’d

1. suddenly realize you have more things to Thank God for
2. You are happier and more grateful to God and even to the people around you
3. You have a better relationship with God

As a husband you know everything your wife does for you and she knows you are aware, in fact, she knows you’re grateful for them but she still wants you to specify and list out those things you are grateful for.

Yeah, God is not human yet he delights in our Thanksgiving, especially the detailed one. This is one of the ways to:

1. grow your relationship with God
2. develop a better consciousness of His presence
3. hear from him more clearly
4. live a happier life
5. become a better human to others

Because being grateful for both ‘big’ and ‘tiny’ things that God does helps you become aware of other so-called little things that people do for you – as someone who is trained to recognize the goodness of God, you can now begin to value people too for what they do for you.

In light of these, I am starting a 365 Days of Thanksgiving journey in the year 2025. Documenting my thanksgiving to God publicly together with anyone who would like to join me.

If you would like to follow along in this journey, sign up with the link below.

​https://365daysofthanksgiving.com/​

Reign in Life.

Michael Adegoke.