The Hidden Benefits of Gratitude :: Thanksgiving Letter 2023

“Count Your Blessings… name them one by one.” Go ahead, take 30 seconds and sing a line or two. Here’s a little help. (I’ll wait)

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed.

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost.

Count your many blessings, name them one by one.

And it will surprise you what the LORD has done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one.

Count your blessings, see what God has done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one.

Count your many blessings see what God has done!”

There now, don’t you feel a whole lot better?

Mom would often sing this song at bedtime while rubbing my back. She knew expressing gratitude aloud is a counter-offensive against greed’s grip on the heart. Gratitude reverses the slide into selfishness, because it is founded upon God’s Goodness and Love. Therefore, as we experience the many benefits of maintaining a grateful heart, Thanksgiving has risen to become our favorite holiday. Besides, it’s a simple holiday, just food and family, remembering our roots in God, and, America’s biblical grounding.

It requires awareness to cultivate and nurture gratitude. Precisely the reason why I am writing you - to nourish your gratitude. Here are 3 of the many benefits of Gratitude:

A heart disciplined in gratitude is less easily pricked by a talon of the enemy.

A heart disciplined in gratitude overcomes obstacles more quickly. And,

A heart disciplined in gratitude heals from wounds more gracefully.

Complimentarily, Beth suggested finding a unique way of weaving a few of Ben and Sam’s original song titles into this Thanksgiving letter. So, I summons you to find - and follow - the song references in this Thanksgiving communiqué. (HINT: click on links. Listening to their songs will boost your gratitude quotient.)

Regarding the kids, Ben & Rachel (Vivienne 6, Jocelyn 3, Noah almost 2), Sam and Andrew, all work in tech and worship at the Waters Church in Sartell, MN. Matt & Bethany (Adeline 3, William 1) live in Ames, IA. Matt works in sales for Nott Company, Industrial Engineered Division. Jackson & Rachel (Amelia almost 2), live in Cedar Falls. Jackson is employed by Rabo Agrifinance, and Rachel, by John Deere. All are happy, healthy, and serving the LORD FT/PT, also as small group leaders and volunteers. We are very happy and proud grandparents.

It was Beth as well who noted a quirky connection; There will be 23 of us gathering in 2023, near Highway 23 (which runs through Milaca, Beth’s home town). This mnemonic connection twinkled into her conscious during practical planning and processing for our Thanksgiving gathering. How many are coming this year? Right, 23.

I am grateful to have “one of those” in the family. She has a truckload of talents, besides organization, like being a great mom, loyal friend, creating music that breathes tranquility, stabilizing and methodical discipline producing results, and more.

Hence, I am grateful for God’s Goodness and Love expressed through Beth. What are you grateful for in your spouse, family, and friends? Write it down on paper…

Me, uhm, not so good with the calendar or the clock. I do appreciate goals, and the sound of deadlines, especially the whooshing sound it makes flying by. I’m better at the contemplative and communicating. Improving these areas has been a constant passion since 1974 in 4th grade. That’s when I became aware of my lacking grammar and punctuation skills, with a limited vocabulary to boot. So I leaned hard into these deficiencies.

A tattered edged Random House Dictionary, with multi-level taped spine, and, custom  covered Roget’s Thesaurus still adorn my bookshelf. Both heavily used from junior high through university! These are the kind of old school tools that technology-driven kids today would expect to be glass-encased at a Smithsonian Museum. (For you young shave-less whipper snappers, books are how we did things prior to Google and Grammarly.)

Combine this early awakening and passion with another, my conversion to Jesus Christ a year earlier (Key ’73), and, what do you get? 50 years finding creative ways to ventilate the heaven on earth connection, the joys (and bothers) of Divine Relationship. God’s Love and Goodness is for all people. 

I am grateful for God’s Goodness and Love through intimate friendship. What is God percolating in your heart this season? Go for it! Do it now.

You may be surprised to learn that more men are growing fond of Hallmark Christmas movies. It used to be “Beth’s thing,” or the “girls thing” during the holidays. However, I am attracted to the consistency of happy endings. It’s a candle of hope, casting light across a dimly lit landscape. I find the romantic, often comic nature of boy meets girl, who fall in love, redolent (thanks Roget’s) of less complicated times, like scooping the loop on Saturday night was in high school. Or, for our contemporary MN clan, “driving up down HWY 15 hand on my head.”

I know these predictable and formulaic holiday love stories are nothing compared to the great Love Story found in the Bible.

God’s love can blaze like a fiery blowtorch or be as soft as a warm glow on the heart. It’s probably why God gives us gifts and trials in measure, that we can handle. It’s why He reveals himself little by little, versus all at once. A blowtorch would be too much. Certainly all life’s dross will vanish in the burning purity of His presence. While we’re here on earth, however, there are special Moments. I believe God prefers intimacy to a big splash, and deepening relationship over time to a hot weekend fling.

I am grateful for God’s Goodness and Love, maturing over the long haul, through valleys of blessing, the mountain range of trials, and, in special Moments. It makes sin less appealing.

Have you retraced your journey with God lately? Diagraming or journaling your relationship definitely intensifies gratitude.

The Truth is, life is a Kaleidoscope of color. Psalm 33:5 puts it this way, “The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.” Good things are always happening, filling the earth. You and I both know at times it can be difficult to see. The Devil deceives. And he lures us to focus on the “black dots,” our mistakes, our regrets, stumbling and fumblings. However, angelic fact checkers all agree, as the sun keeps shining above the clouds, God’s Goodness and Love remain steadfast regardless of the weather.

I am grateful for God’s steadfast Goodness and Love. I bet you can fill a legal pad with how God has proven His steadfastness in your life! Try it. Go ahead, start writing…

You will gain tremendous confidence after making and rereading your list. Your faith will flourish recalling all the ways God’s walked with you supplying, protecting, guiding, nurturing, and strengthening. Knowing God is with you and walking you through, makes challenges less intimidating and more easy to surmount.

Especially, if right now is one of those difficult times for you. You need the Spirit of God to come rushing in. We need God to heal all hurt and division and subdividing. Gratitude is one tool God has given us to just that, heal and restore. And I believe His hand is extended to you and to all. His desire is to H.eal A. N.ation D.ivided, to heal YOUR family, and to heal YOU!

The old adage is, “You are either entering a crisis, in the middle of a crisis, or coming out of a crisis.” Gratitude makes the road less bumpy. It’s the keel of your sailboat.

I am grateful that the hand of God’s Goodness and Love is always extended. Where do you see the hand of God extended? Join Him in His work. Where do you need the hand of God extended? Ask for His help. He’s at the ready.

Grab hold of God’s hand with me, and hold tight. His Goodness and Love is intended to be embraced and shared everywhere there is a listening ear. So talk about the good things God has done. Share God stories with others. Tell them how God will help them. Hearing yourself talk about His Goodness and Love is another way to reinforce your confidence in God, maintain inner peace, and hope through circumstances.

I pray your gratitude has been nourished.

LOVE from the Snyder Family

THANKSGIVING 2023

P.S. JESUS. What a Beautiful Name. He has is no rival. He has no equal. His Goodness flows like a river, in the House of the LORD. I am not alone. His Spirit goes before me. So, I will fear no evil. He prepares a table in the presence of my enemies. My cup overflows with joy. My mighty shield and my fortress in time of need is in the House of the LORD.

20 More Biblical Benefits of Gratitude

helps endure suffering  Rom 5:3-5

aligns heart with God’s will 1 Thess 5:18

enhances worship Psalm 100:4-5

strengthens confidence in God 1 Cor 15:57: Phil 4:8-9

improves attitude Psalm 106:1

corrects perspective Psalm 104:15-28; 2 Tim 4:4-5

combats anxiety Phil 4:6-7

reinforces inner peace Col 3:15

bolsters perseverance Psalm 136:1; James 1:1-4

revives hope 2 Cor 4:15-18

gives glory to God Psalms 69:30; 86:12

orients and aligns our motivation Col 3:17

opens our heart for giving Psalm 54:6

warms us to sacrifice Jonah 2:9

keeps us from foolishness and stupidity Rom 1:21

directs our speech Psalm 107:21-22

anchors us to our identity Psalm 95:1-3

develops reverence for God Rev 19:1-6

protects us from God’s wrath Rom 1:18-21

guides our behavior Col 3:17