Thank _______ !

We will soon celebrate the day of Thanksgiving. It is a good think to be thankful in general for our blessings and our good fortune. But to be simply thankful is, in and of itself, hollow and incomplete.

The word “thank” is a verb, it requires a subject and an object. When we receive a gift, we say “thank you.” This is the shortened form of the entire sentence “I thank you.” The subject is understood; the object is often left hanging, open for interpretation. If you just say “I am thankful for…”, to whom are you thankful?

Imagine receiving your shinny new Red Rider B-B gun from your parents. Then you say, “I am thankful for this B-B gun.” Wouldn’t your parents be a little miffed? Instead we say “Thanks mom and dad!” We declare whom we are thanking.

How often do we go around the table on Thanksgiving Day and say what we are thankful for? It is good to be thankful, but if you are not thankful to someone, something, your thankfulness is unfinished. It is like a transfer truck which is not pulling a trailer. The verb needs its object; your thanks needs a target.

Consider the original Thanksgiving Day proclamation by George Washington:

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; … to be devoted by the people of thefe States to the fervice of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be;¹

The Day of Thanksgiving was originally set up for us to give thanks to God for his blessings on us. Let us all remember this as we declare what we are thankful for.

1 – Full proclamation text here – In many of our founding documents, an “F” is used where you use an “S” now.