Celebrate Your Blessings with “A Month of Thanks”

It was a crazy day at work with the phone ringing off the hook and demanding clients. I felt exhausted.

When I heard the office door open, I hoped no one needed me. A voice echoed down the hallway as the new arrival spoke with a co-worker. Then I heard my name. My first thought, I admit, was “No! Leave me alone!” But then I realized I recognized the voice.

“Come on down, Sue!” I called from my open office door, feeling guilty that I was willing to talk to her but not to a client.

Sue entered my office and we sat down to talk. I have known Sue for 16 years through book club. We see each other six times a year—occasionally more often from other contexts—and have been in each other’s homes numerous times as we take turns hosting the club. I like Sue a lot, though I don’t know her well.

“I don’t know if you knew, but we’re moving,” she said. “And as I’ve been packing, I found something that I’d like to give you.”

I was speechless. Sue wants to give me something?

“I know you lived in Germany and love German things,” she continued. “I have six German cups that I’d like to give you. A friend gave them to me years ago and we used them every Christmas Eve for our eggnog. If you want them, I’d love for you to have them.”

Tears sprang to my eyes when Sue handed me a box. And when I saw what was inside, my tears spilled over. Six Waechtersbach mugs, from a company I love and in my favorite color, red, no less, nestled in the shoebox.

“Waechtersbach!” I said, “I love Waechtersbach!”

“How do you say it?” Sue asked, laughing.

I repeated the word and told her that I have a few Waechtersbach items and cherish them.

“I had a feeling you’d like them,” Sue said. “I’m so glad.”

“Are you sure your daughters don’t want them?” I asked, incredulous that they wouldn’t.

“No, no, they don’t,” Sue assured me. “They’re for you. My friend who gave them to me has been with Jesus for many years now and I know she would be so happy that they’re going to someone who will love them.”

I couldn’t say thank you enough. Sure, I loved them, but it was more than that. Sue had thought of me. Therein lay the blessing.

I became aware recently of the Lutheran tradition of the Thankoffering. Thankoffering recalls a long-standing Lutheran women’s custom of keeping a blessings jar. The women dropped a penny—or whatever they could afford—into a jar whenever they had a blessing to acknowledge. Then, when the church had a need, the women brought their blessing jars to church and made a Thankoffering of the money. It was a way to keep track of their blessings and then, in turn, bless others.

I left work that day with the Waechtersbach mugs determined to do something I’d considered for a while. I started a Thankoffering book. I hope to someday fill my book with enumerated blessings. But forever and always the first entry will be, “Unexpected blessings from a friend.”

Keeping track of our blessings is important. It reminds us—on those days when life is particularly challenging—that there are things to be thankful for, even if they’re hard to see at the moment. Having a book or a jar as a visual reminder nudges us toward thankfulness.

With Thanksgiving approaching, we tend to think about giving thanks a little more than in other months of the year. I want the idea of giving thanks to take center stage this year, not just be kept for the fourth Thursday of the month. I want to make November “A Month of Thanks.”

Will you join me? You could keep a blessings jar throughout the month. Every time you receive a blessing—and I submit that blessings come daily—put a dollar into the jar to celebrate that blessing. At the end of the month, donate the money to your church, favorite missionary or outreach ministry.

Or, if you’re a word person like me, write down your blessings in your own Thankoffering book. If you’re more visual, do as a friend of mine does and place pretty stones in a jar to count your blessings. A jar full of marbles, each one representing a blessing, offers another fun version of the blessings jar.

Please join me in making November “A Month of Thanks.” May your Thankofferings—whether  jars of coins or stones or lists in a book—truly overflow with the myriad of blessings you receive.

Gretchen O’Donnell is an island girl living on the prairies of southwestern Minnesota, with her husband, two youngest children, and two argumentative cats. She hopes someday she, too, can unexpectedly bless someone the way her friend Sue blessed her. Gretchen does freelance writing for her local newspaper and has a weekly faith-based newspaper column, The Disheveled Theologian. She loves telling stories of her ordinary life to help people see the theological truths in their own everyday lives.