Eucharisteo

Eucharisteo is the Greek word for "thanksgiving". My small group leader was telling us about some other special things behind the word.

Within the word is the Greek word "char" meaning "grace," and "chara" means "joy."

I'm going to be honest. I missed most everything else she said, but that's because one thing stuck out to me. The joy was within the thanksgiving. Remember that day when it was so hard to think of one good thing, but then a small memory comes to your mind . . . you holding a niece or a nephew, someone you love with a huge smile on their face . . . those things make you smile. They give you joy. The things you're thankful for . . . when you realized you are just that, that's when you find joy.

But now I sit here pondering on thing. What about the grace? "Char" is supposedly the root of the word "eucharisteo" and it doesn't exactly have the full "chara" then what /is/ up with the grace? Are we supposed to be thankful for grace? Well of course. But what I think we often forget is that grace is our reason to give thanksgiving, eucharisteo. Grace is our reason for joy.

When we were saved,  when we were given grace, we were given a reason the give thanks. When we were given grace we were also given a reason to smile, to have joy.

Now it comes to the last bit. Do I always have to walk around with a smile? No. You don't. You don't always have to be happy. So many times joy is mistaken as happiness. But I think there's a line to draw between the two. I believe joy is simply knowing in your heart that there's hope, knowing in your heart that you have something to smile about. Now might not be the right time to smile--now might be the right time to cry. And that's fine.

I know I'm a little late and Thanksgiving is already past, but I thought I'd still post this. =)
Eucharisteo.

~Black