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Marian Wright Edelman was the founder of the Children’s Defense Fund. She spent her life advocating for children. She was once asked why she gave her life to do this. Her reply: “I do what I do because my parents did what they did and because of who they were. I learned God’s caring by watching my parents care for me, my sister and brothers, and others in the community.” Miss Edelman’s love, honor, and respect for her parents led her to imitate their character. That is why God urges us to love, honor, and respect Him. Doing so leads us to imitate His character. To impress this practice upon ancient Israel, we find in Leviticus chapter 23 that God told them to set aside a time each year to celebrate God as the source of their livelihood. The event was called The Feast of Weeks and later called Pentecost. The event gave them time to honor God as the source of their life-saving and life sustaining crops. Like them, we also need times to reflect on Almighty God as the Source of our blessings—a time to give thanks. Sincere gratitude toward God helps us appreciate Him, not only for His blessings, but for other attributes: His love, power, wisdom, and holiness. Genuine gratitude moves us to worship and obey the One who is the Source of all our blessings.
