The State of Thankfulness

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18, KJV

The last four months of the year have a certain feel, which I have decided to call the Ember Month Effect.

By my deduction and low-sample-size observation, the Ember Month Effect seems to have a certain warmth associated with it. Granted, in some parts of the world, it is cold, yet the holiday season warms the mood. If you are like one of my friends, you probably start playing Christmas music sometime in June, as though you want to skip to the good part. Although, to be fair, it is all the good part. Still, there is something about the season. Personally, the weather and the holiday plans make me gravitate towards home. Somewhere warm, with familiar food, and friends and family around me, where I can sit a little longer and remember that I am surrounded by love. I know this feeling is not the same for everyone. For some, it makes absence feel even louder. Perhaps that is also why the season invites us to pause, remember what has carried us, and name what is still worthy of thanks.

During this season, certain parts of the world observe Thanksgiving, a holiday built around looking back and pondering what we are thankful for. Which brings me to the words themselves: thank you.

Before “thank you” became something I was expected to reflect on, it was simply something I said during ordinary interactions with older people. Thank you, with the slight bow of the head. My favourite occasion for dishing out this phrase was when an elder gave me money, and I said thank you before running off to imagine the many things I could buy with it. The amount had to be just right before it entered “save” territory. Certain amounts meant I could buy sweets, gum and maybe La Casera, while other amounts meant the money had to be “saved.”

At some point, “thank you” became a regular part of my speech, warranted by the many things being done around me and for me. A reminder that I cannot do it all alone.

Given the administrative functions we need to personally implement, being thankful should be a state of being.

Imagine if, every night, you had to complete a series of tasks to ensure you remember to consciously breathe in and out. At that moment you become disturbingly aware of something your body normally handles and it would probably require some backend programming.

Go CS students!

Maybe, in 2026, AI could automate it. But guess what, we get those functionalities and a host of others without having to submit a jira ticket to heaven. 

For this reason, a state of thankfulness is the right way to live. So I find myself saying a million thank-yous from wake to break. It becomes a domino situation of gratitude. One thing reminds me of another, and another, and another. It is like pulling a strand from a ball of endless yarn and discovering that it just keeps coming. The list never ends, and rightly so.

And that is thought behind  this poem. It is a snapshot of things I was and still am thankful for at a moment in time. By design, the poem is not complete because it can’t. It is simply a pause and a capture of a particular moment.

So, here it is.

Thank You, Lord

Thank You for the things I know,
and for the things I do not.

Thank You for what I remember often,
and for what I have forgotten.

Thank You for every breath in
and every breath out.

Thank You for wakeful mornings
and for drowsy nights.

Thank You for drowsy mornings
and for wakeful nights.

Thank You for journeys through the air
and for journeys across the sea.

Thank You for the ground I walk on most days
and for the subway that carries me beneath it.

Thank You for what I deem little,
and for what I call great.

Thank You for the softness of cashmere
and for the warmth of wool.

Thank You for eyes that see
and ears that hear.

Thank You for who I was,
and even more for who I am now.

Thank You for this present with You
that my past could never hold.

Thank You for what You have answered,
and for what I still call unanswered.

…

Thank You for Your goodness,
for Your faithfulness,
for never letting go.