Every year around this time, America does its best to conjure gratitude out of thin air.
We attempt to manufacture a counterfeit thankfulness with marketing campaigns, Instagram reels, sentimental commercials, and pumpkin spiced everything. Yet behind it all, there remains an unrelenting lack of contentedness.
There's a reason for that. The kind of genuine gratitude that settles the soul doesn't come from "holiday vibes." It comes from something far older, far steadier, and far less performative.
Ethics professor (and one of my favorite social media follows) Andrew T. Walker unintentionally summarized it perfectly after a normal Sunday at church:
Walker's idea seems absurd to a culture addicted to adrenaline and noise like ours. But if the last twelve months have revealed anything, it's that our world is chronically overstimulated and spiritually malnourished.
Think about where we've been over the course of the last year:
Russia grinding through Ukraine
China shadow-boxing Taiwan
Livestreams from the Gaza war zone
Inflation cooling one month, roaring the next
Interest rates giving whiplash to homebuyers
Viral school board meetings with parents and administrators screaming at each other
Whistleblowers, Supreme Court leakers, assassinations, and neo-Nazis
Algorithms inducing outrage faster than our minds can process.
Allow me to humbly suggest that we won't find peace in the middle of that with another self-care trend or feel-good slogan slapped on a coffee mug. You fix it by returning to something sturdy, something that doesn't change with the news cycle, something rooted in the character of God rather than the chaos of the moment.
That's exactly why the Scriptures keep pulling us back to remembering. It's why they record the example of a mighty King leading an entire nation in a song of thanks - a pattern that we would be wise to follow.
When David proclaims in 1 Chronicles 16, lines like…
"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good."
"Seek the Lord and His strength."
"Remember the wondrous works that He has done."
…he isn't summoning spiritual fireworks. He's calling Israel to do what every one of us can and should do on an average day, no less one set aside for gratitude:
Remember who God is.
Remember what He's done.
Rest in His unchanging faithfulness.
Notice that David doesn't mention "God's latest blessing" or "this week's miracle." He roots gratitude in God's character, not in God's recent performance. That's the beauty of real thanksgiving: it survives the news cycle.
That's the point of Walker's post. The ordinary means of grace (things like preaching, prayer, fellowship, and Scripture) are more stabilizing than the emotional rollercoaster our world straps us into.
We don't need a global movement to secure our peace.
We don't need a viral moment to validate our faith.
We don't need a "spiritual experience" that you can shout about on social media.
We need a local church. We need the Word of God. We need God-fearing friends. We need the quiet, steady grace Jesus gives. And we need a calm, contented, thankful heart.
So maybe this Thanksgiving, instead of mimicking the frenzy of the world around us, we'd be wise to:
"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good."
"Remember His covenant forever."
"Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice."
What if the calm we want is found not in changing the world, but in remembering the One who already has?
What if gratitude is not an emotional high, but a spiritual anchor?
And what if Thanksgiving works best not because it's a national holiday, but because it reminds us of a Christian reality:
We live in a world full of problems, but our hope is built on a Savior who has overcome them all.
That's something to be thankful for.
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Not the Bee or any of its affiliates.
