4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7, NRSV)
Thanksgiving is upon us. In Philippians, Paul tells us that we should have an attitude full of thankfulness and joy. And, through this we will receive God’s peace.
This “peace” Paul promises does not come about through the absence of strife or hardship. Paul’s own difficult life clearly points that out. The peace which Paul speaks about is a peace that comes from within. When you are truly connected to God through prayer, an inner peace, an inner calm washes over you. No words can explain it, but when you experience it you know that in all things you can give thanks, because God’s loving peace has entered your life.
God’s joy and peace cannot be seen, touched, purchased or possessed – like food, clothing, cars, boats or homes. And yet, they are the very greatest gifts we ever receive. To give thanks for the intangibles is what Paul is calling all of us to do. We are called to give thanks for everything – especially the things that are intangible. It is in thanksgiving that you can recognize that it is all about God and not about you.
In Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s classic book The Little Prince, the fox character is saying goodbye to the little prince, and as he leaves he says, “And now here’s my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
“What is essential is invisible to the eye,” the little prince repeats, so that he will be sure to remember. This fox’s insight is right in line with what the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
We look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal (2 Cor. 4:18). It is the unseen that is eternal. What is essential is invisible to the eye.
This approach to Thanksgiving runs counter to conventional wisdom, and it refuses to fall into step with the swarm of shoppers that will surge into shopping malls on Black Friday to begin the Christmas buying binge.
Paul doesn’t give thanks for gold jewelry, PlayStations, leather jackets, computer tablets, or trendy toys. Throughout the scriptures, he refuses to focus on the things that can be seen, because he knows that these things are temporary.
Instead, he looks only at the essential and eternal things that are invisible to the eye. When he counts his blessings, he lists absolutely nothing you can buy, and nothing you can own – only faith, love, a spirit of wisdom, a spirit of revelation, God’s inheritance, God’s power.
Paul reminds us to appreciate is the immeasurable greatness of God’s gifts in our lives – and give thanks for them! Whether we are rich or poor, homeowners or homeless, working or unemployed, we have access to an amazing set of essential, eternal, unseen treasures – God’s love, joy and peace – all of which pass all our human understanding! When we remember these, we can honestly say to God, “Thanks for everything!”
with love, Laureen 🙂
