The Grinch Who Stole Thanksgiving

Time to fatten the turkey, stir up the gravy, and "count your blessings, name them one by one," as the cheery hymn suggests. But no sooner have we found our pitch than the gratitude grinch comes to life. While we're counting our blessings, this grinch wants to steal Thanksgiving.

"Pollyannas, the whole lot of ya!" he bellows when we focus on the joys and pleasures of our lives. "Yeah, I know the Scriptures say, 'In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you' (1 Thessalonians 5:18). But can't you see we've got problems? Serious problems? How are you going to whip up a pretty chiffon of thankfulness when your ingredients are rotten?"

Before we let the little rascal ruin the pumpkin pie, let's listen to him. For all his whining, for all his nay-saying, let's stifle the impulse to muzzle him and actually listen.

Are we supposed to ignore that violence in the Middle East has exploded yet again, that drugs and guns are everywhere, that desperation is not limited to remote Third World countries but confronts us on the streets of our own hometowns? For one sepia-tinted holiday, are we to shove in a corner the reality that the private lives of those we love (perhaps our own lives) are torn apart by betrayal, rebellion, and loss?

In our church collectively, our numbers swell, and we benefit from positive public relations. But how can we say "all is well in Zion" when those who long to feel like "fellow citizens with the saints" do not feel valued but estranged and misunderstood in wrenching ways that have nothing to do with sin? When the divorce rate is as high among Latter-day Saints as it is in the country at large? When abuse in various forms poisons our membership?

How can we, individually, as believers, as citizens of the world, honestly be grateful in all these things? Does being grateful require us to strap on a blindfold; stick our fingers in our ears and our heads in the sand? The gratitude grinch demands an answer.

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