Words have always captivated me.

How easy it is for one to misunderstand what is said by another.

My son-in-law once gave a comic book with a story the illustrates this point.

It seems that there was this fellow who had a wife who had just converted to the idea of reincarnation. (Something I do NOT believe in. I do NOT want to have to repeat Senior English..)

Like many converts she can’t stop talking about it. It reaches the point where the poor fellow has to leave and go for a walk to clear his head.

Stopping by a curiosity shop he finds an old oil lamp. He takes it home and polishing it, and “Poof!” a Genie appears. “Master” says the Genie. Thank you for setting me free of the lamp. What wish do you desire?” The fellow answers. “I’m sick and tired of my wife constantly talking about reincarnation. Send me away. Send me back to my old school. NOW!”

“But Master” answers the Genie, “I do not understand.”

“My old school, “ he answers, “send me back to my old school!

“I don’t want to hear another word about reincarnation!”

“ Poof!” He’s a fish………….

Words are funny. For so many folks if you say “Thanksgiving,” they immediately think of turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie. But thanks giving is something that should not be celebrated once a year.

I’d like to think of it as something that can be a way of life that enters into all the facets of our being. Linguistically, did you ever notice that the words, “think” and “thank” and “thing” are very similar?

It can be the very thing we think about that can influence our giving thanks. Ralph Waldo Emerson would say, “A man is what he thinks about all day long.”

Matthew Henry (1662-1714) was a great writer, pastor and scriptural commentator. One night, in England, he was held up at gunpoint.

The story goes that he immediately went home and wrote down what he was thankful for. He wrote something to the effect of, “Lord, I thank you that I was not killed. I thank you that all that was taken was money, and not much of that. I am thankful it was me and not someone more impoverished than I. Mostly Lord, I am thankful that even with my limited finances, I do not have to rob folk to provide for my family.”

He proceeded to pray for his robber. His faith, humility and thanksgiving should humble us all.

I had a retirement job at Walmart for a few years.

Thanksgiving was a busy time for us. Indeed, we get the term “Black Friday” from that day on the calendar store pray they are “in the black.”

We were well fed and given our tasks. Aside from the chaos that normally occurs when you put a large group of people in a confined area, there was one glimmer of hope and thanksgiving I will always remember. I was outside directing people to a drive through are to pick up larger parcels. The trampolines were tantamount to fighting an octopus.

A Hispanic couple pulled up in their car. My high school Spanish came in handy. I spoke in “Spanglish,” telling them to make sure their trunk was “abierto,” open, and to go “derecho” to the right.

I will never forget that an hour earlier or so driver of the biggest pickup truck I ever saw decided he didn’t want to shop, and made a U-turn right in front me, missing me by less than a foot.

I was briefly Ralph Kramden “huminah, huminah, huminah.”

Then a little while later from meeting the Hispanic couple I’d hear a “Beep!” and looked around expecting to get yelled at.

There was the Hispanic on his way out, yelling “Gracias Amigo!”

It reminded me of the story in the 17th chapter of St. Luke, where Jesus healed 10 lepers and the one who returned was a Samaritan. That night one returned to give thanks and he was Hispanic. We can learn from different cultures, can’t we?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning would write, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”

I can hear the Ahnold Schwarzenegger version of that.

“How do I luff dee, let me count day vays?”

“Ein! Zwei! Drei! Vier!”

I encourage you as part of your morning spiritual calisthenics to pause and write down five things you are thankful for. Write them perhaps in the corner of your devotional, or a dollar store note book that you can turn into a Thanksgiving log. Write down five things you are thankful for, I’m amazed how quickly they can come to mind. I’m told that it takes three weeks to end or begin a habit.

Both TV’s Jonathan Harris and Pat Robertson said giving up smoking was the worst three weeks of their lives.

But in three weeks, consider how your “Attitude of Gratitude” may be increased. May you see that your blessings far out way life’s bumps. Matthew Henry had the right idea. A fraternity brother of mine once kept a record of prayer requests and prayer answers. He was amazed to see that eight to nine things he prayed about were answered. He compared it walking in a field and turning over rocks, and eight to nine times out of ten, he’d find a gold coin.

What things you think about will inspire thanks? How may you turn that thing into thoughts, words and actions of thanks giving?

One of the food pantries I help start would reap an unexpected harvest. Someone noticed that folk were coming in to receive food in January in T-shirts. At our next council of churches meeting, we started to devise an all-church clothing drive. One of our number dubbed it “The Freebie-a-thon.”

One of my congregations with a wonderful parking lot, would host it each year. I’ll never forget the help we were to those in our area.

Myerstown School of Theology was close by. One year they sent an African family who arrived at the school with just the clothes on their back. Black, White, Hispanic all could use our services. The leftover clothes then would go to the local mission, and one year even to Ukraine.

Many were touched because someone noticed a fellow in T-shirt in January. What thing can you think thanks about? How may it turn into blessing to others? The Reformer Martin Luther would write, “God does not need our good works, but our neighbor does!” In every thing think thanks!