I was recently given some cash and encouraged to give part of it, a $50 bill, away as an act of thanksgiving.
Naturally, the first image that came to mind for me was the endearing character, Data, in the 1985 hit film, The Goonies, shouting, “Fifty dollar bill! Fifty dollar bill!” Over and over again, he yells to his companions, thinking he’d found a way to buy out the realtor bullies about to raze their neighborhood for a country club. For a brief moment, they’re falling over themselves in their excitement, until they realize the $50 bills are spewing forth from a counterfeit money making machine. Their wild hopes are instantly dashed. (Please, if you have not seen The Goonies, you absolutely must!)
After that, I began to ponder the $50 bill in my pocket more carefully. I was being encouraged to offer it to someone, anyone really, as an expression of gratitude.
Now, I am used to sitting around a Thanksgiving table and naming off what I am thankful for:
I am thankful for my family.
I am thankful for my dog.
I am thankful for a new job.
I am thankful for strawberry freezer jam.
And so on, and so forth.
I am also used to telling someone why I am thankful for them, or for something they have done for me. This often takes the form of a Thank You note.
Thank you for inviting us over for a delicious meal, and for the excellent conversation.
Thank you for buying me that cup of coffee- it was just what I needed.
Thank you for your kindness in picking my kids up from school when I was running late.
Thank you for your generosity in giving so faithfully to support our ministry efforts.
But how often do I take the opportunity to show someone how I am thankful, as an act of thanksgiving? Maybe this shows up in a hug. Or, I suppose it happens when I give a tip for good service, though tipping does have a rather obligatory nature to it as well.
What I am finding is that this $50 bill in my pocket asks me to be more present, and more attentive, to the world around me.
Some might argue that $50 is not a whole lot of money. And yet, we all know that $50 at the right moment is both abundant and extravagant. In fact, giving up $50 in all of its cold, hard cash value can feel like a bit of a sacrifice. So I am finding that thanksgiving can be a sacrifice.
I already know that I am grateful for what I have, including this extra cash. Yet, my gratitude calls for a response. Gratitude has provoked in me an act of thanksgiving. Gratitude seems to cue a heart of generosity so that, in the blessing I have received, I want to bless in return.
And now, during a season when I typically find myself pondering what I am grateful for, I find I am also considering when and where I might be able to express this gratitude and thanksgiving.
I am paying attention to people and places and situations around me that I might normally ignore or tune out. I’m paying better attention so that, just maybe, I can sprinkle a little gratitude somewhere, infuse some grace over a knot of tension, deposit some cash into an outstretched hand or heart in need.
I keep thinking about how The Goonies characters thought, ever so briefly, that the $50 bills would save them. I’m sure that many of us have had times in our lives when we thought maybe $50 (or more, or even less) could save us. We all live with desperate kinds of needs sometimes.
However, I think that one of the best parts of this whole exercise, for me, has been the realization that being generous with what I have been given, out of a heart of gratitude, has the real saving power.
To give rather than keep saves me. To give $50 to someone else might, in a way, save them, but for me to give thanks by giving them $50, really saves me. It changes how I see and feel and live.
I don’t think we need a $50 bill in our pocket to operate within this shifted mindset. Maybe it helps? I’m not sure. But what if we went throughout our whole year offering one another acts of gratitude? What might happen?
Certainly, giving intentional thanks together around a table once a year does something rich and meaningful in us and around that table. But, wow, what could be set in motion if we intentionally acted upon our gratitude all year long? I suspect we’d feel a lot more alive and a lot more grateful all the time.
At least in the United States, we are moving head long into a holiday centered around giving thanks, but again, it shouldn’t really matter where we live, or what time of year it is. Ask yourself about what you are thankful for and when, where, and how you might demonstrate that gratitude going forward.
Pumpkins photo by Maddy Baker on Unsplash
Money photo by Aarush Kochar on Unsplash
Pie photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash
