For those who celebrate Thanksgiving, plans are probably in full swing. There are things to be ordered, people to make room for, and lots and lots of food to purchase and store up for the holiday. Thanksgiving tables “abound” with food, family, and friends, and our faith should equally abound with gratitude.

Some will have a quiet, small Thanksgiving. Some will find themselves on their own. Some will have an empty chair at their table and wonder how they can feel grateful when their grief or loneliness is controlling their thoughts. 

Paul gives us the key to living with abundant thanksgiving in his letter to the Colossians, and his words can help us transcend our circumstances. He said because you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, “Walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith.” There are difficult times in our lives, and the holiday season can often magnify our pain rather than heal the hurt. But Paul taught us that when we walk in the Lord with an established, mature faith, we can abound in thanksgiving.

We probably all know someone who will have a difficult time this year during the upcoming holidays. How can we help them lean into their faith? And how can we help them lean on us and into the hope our faith offers?

In one of his songs, Ken Medema sings, “Don’t tell me I have a friend in Jesus until you show me I have a friend in you.” Who needs a seat at your Thanksgiving table? Whose holiday can you bless with your compassion or friendship? If you are the lonely one, how can you help others abound in “thanksgiving” because you understand?

Paul wrote the letter of Colossians while under house arrest in Rome. His friends visited him there and cared for him, and Paul used that time to write many of his letters that we study in our Bibles. Paul was “rooted and established” in his faith, and his prison epistles are filled with words of joy and encouragement to others. Paul had learned the key to abundant thanksgiving. His gratitude was born from his walk with the Lord.

Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. Our personal walk with God will produce the faith and wisdom needed to be grateful in any circumstance as we lean into his abundant love.