The Goods on Gratitude

A November tradition has sprung forth from the well of social media: 30 Days of Thankfulness. People poised to pounce on Christmas as soon as the turkey is taken from the table and reduced to sandwich meat status are committing to only 28 days this year. Purists go for 30. Purists are rare.

But the point of this post is not to debate differences between purists and holiday hijackers. I write today to discuss the actual nature of gratitude and it's expression on social media platforms. 

My family keeps track of thankfulness in November by writing on the paper tablecloth.

Our creator desires our gratitude and deserves our thanks for all that we have. Whether we do it publicly (on FaceBook and Twitter) or privately (on the tablecloth), expressing thankfulness is a wonderful act. But when doing it publicly, one must demonstrate that she understands the essence of gratitude.

Gratitude shows humility. Saying a sincere thank you is to admit that the person, place or thing for which one is thankful is someone, somewhere or something that came into one's life not because it was deserved, not because it was earned, not because it was attained solely through willful effort, but because it was gifted, presumably by a higher power.

True gratitude has three elements:

• Humility
• Sincerity
• Selflessness

Unfortunately some people playing the social media 28-30 days of thankfulness game are missing the mark and reverting to their usual social media madness of self-adoration and braggadocio.Three examples of actual "thankful" posts:

 

Example 1: I am thankful for being able to give and receive kind acts. 

Example 2: Today I am honored that my friend Cheryl asked me to take her to the hospital for some tests. I am in gratitude for this day and for being able to tithe. 

Example 3: I am thankful for my parents who raised me to be a Christian, hard worker, loyal friend, loving mother, honest, dedicated, committed, and positive person and role model to those I meet each day. 

I see a terrible pattern in these posts that worsens day by day. What these people really meant to say is I'm thankful I am sooooo amazing.  

I'm thankful I'm amazing, too, which is why I'm writing my thankfulness on the tablecloth so I don't slip up and make a spectacle of myself on a public social media platform. No one ever went wrong silently scribbling gratitude with old-fashioned pen and paper for trivialities of life like 

squirrels












                 or bacon

or belts.

  
Because I am thankful for you:

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