Dr. Wayne Dehoney, a Baptist pastor in Louisville, Kentucky, tells of a college freshman who attended his first dormitory prayer meeting. Rather unexpectedly he was called upon to pray a sentence prayer. The young man had a slight speech defect which became pronounced when he was under pressure, and thus he prayed: "Lord, make us more thinkful for all our blessings."

That young man prayed a better prayer than he realized. Our English word thank stems from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "think," and certainly if we are more thinkful we will be more thankful. Although our national holiday of Thanksgiving Day is still two months away, I want to share with you some thoughts today about the deeper meaning of gratitude. I want to ask you to join me in considering a thinking person’s prayer of than…