I thought that I might be able to skip over this thought in my head, but providence apparently had another idea. The thought came up yesterday while Mo and Maggie and I were out driving around, doing a little shopping for our remodeling efforts at the house. And we were, of course, all packed into the little cab of our truck so that we would have room in the bed of the truck for all of our large purchases. Needless to say, we were in close quarters, and we were in those close quarters all afternoon.

So far what I’ve described is probably not that awful for a person who can have fun no matter the situation, and there were a lot of reasons for me to be having fun with the family, but I wasn’t! I was cramped. I was uncomfortable. I was tired. I was thinking of all the other things I needed to be doing.

As the afternoon passed into early evening Mo and I became aware that Maggie had not taken advantage of our many miles on the road to take a nap. We noticed this, not because little kids come with a digital display of their sleep tank, nor because they are given the gift to communicate the state of their situation with verbal clarity and completeness, but rather because God has given them another avenue of announcing their displeasure with their world: whining.

And you know, whining is ugly. There is no beauty, no attractiveness, no charm, and no grace in whining. Whining is repulsive and uninviting. Whining is an expression of self-centeredness, selfishness, and unthankfulness. That makes whining ugly.

So Maggie and I had a little father-daughter chat about the attractiveness of happiness and the beauty of joy. I told her that we wanted her to grow up and be a pretty young lady and that she would be most appealing in proportion to her being most thankful.

That was great. I had taken responsibility to direct my little girl’s heart in the way it should go. And as my sense of fatherly pride welled up within me, I realized that I had failed to direct my own heart in the way it should go: the way of thankfulness.

I am better (perhaps some would disagree with this!) at concealing my lack of thankfulness than perhaps a 20 month old is but, even if my outside is not ugly, my heart is. I thought about it all last night and I thought about how ridiculous it is for me, or for anyone, to be unthankful.

As providence has planned it, this morning when I took my copy of God’s Word to pick up my reading from yesterday, I began in Psalm 136. And Psalm 136 verse one says, “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.” Then verse two begins, “Give thanks to the God of gods.” And then verse three, “Give thanks to the Lord of lords.” And not to be outdone, Psalm 138 verse one starts out, “I give thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart.”

I started singing the song in my heart: “Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good. Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good. And His love endures, forever. Call upon His holy name. And rejoice in the Lord; Rejoice in the Lord. Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord, rejoice.” And while I was singing in my heart I thought of the numerous times that we are commanded to be thankful throughout Scripture. Specifically I thought of Colossians 3:15, “And be thankful.” And 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” We know that those who are filled with the Spirit will be “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20).

So whatever is happening you today, be thankful. And pray for me that I will increase in my thankfulness…because being unthankful is ugly.