I hope you’re on track for a wonderful Thanksgiving! Paula and I are prepping to host a bunch of Stanford students who couldn’t get home for the holidays.

Thanksgiving is not a Christian holiday in the same way that Christmas is, but it is a holiday that I am always delighted to celebrate because gratitude is one of the most important Christian virtues. The phrases “give/given/giving/gave thanks” occur 28 times in the NIV translation of the New Testament. Half of those times it is Jesus Himself giving thanks, so to give thanks is Christlike.¹

So be grateful this week and always! This Thanksgiving, I pray you feast upon delightful food while surrounded by people you love and that the delectableness of the desserts is only exceeded by the quantity of the laughter. May gratitude fill your heart and animate your mouth.

1. Here are the fourteen times (scattered across ten passages) the phrases “given/gave thanks” are used in reference to Jesus. Interestingly, they are all related to food.
   * Matthew 14:19 — And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.
   * Matthew 15:36 — Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people.
   * Matthew 26:26–27 — While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.”
   * Mark 6:41 — Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.
   * Mark 8:6–7 — He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them.
   * Mark 14:22–23 — While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
   * Luke 9:16 — Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people.
   * Luke 22:17, 19 — After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you.… And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
   * Luke 24:30 — When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.
   * John 6:23 — Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ︎