The Root Cause

During the Thanksgiving Holiday I have always “led” our family in testifying to what they are thankful for. Many a tear was shed around the Thanksgiving table as people were thankful for certain family members, their health, their job, even their home or new car! Why not be thankful? As I considered all this “thanksgiving” I thought about “giving thanks”.

Thank: to express gratitude to; give thanks to.
Thank You: an expression of gratitude or in acknowledgement of a service rendered.
Thankful: feeling or manifesting thanks or gratitude.
Thanks: an expression of gratitude or appreciation.

As I read through the dictionary definitions, they all suggested that the thanks you give are to be received. So who actually “receives” that thanks for your car? Certainly not the car. Have you ever said “thank you” to your house? Did it respond? Can you actually be thankful to an inanimate object? What about your health or even a family member? When your thanks are directed towards a person, you are usually thanking them for something or some behavior.

In our company we have a class called High Impact Coaching wherein we teach people to explore and analyze the situation and ask questions in order to get to the underlying “root” cause of a situation. This is very helpful to ensure that you develop actions that will be appropriate to solve the problem. If you don’t get to the root cause, your efforts will probably not deliver the desired end result or the problem will reoccur. One of the techniques we teach is called the “5 Whys”. Essentially, every time you get an answer to a “why” question, you ask “why” again. This helps drive to the root cause of the issue.

I contend that all things for which you are thankful have a “root cause”. For example if you think about a house for which you might be thankful, using the 5 whys might go like this:

I am thankful that I have a nice, comfortable house for my family.
Why do you have it? I work hard and have been able to afford it.
Why can you afford it? I achieved a job level that pays well enough.
Why do you have a job level that pay well? I have been found to have desirable skills.
Why do you think you have desirable skills? I’ve had the opportunity to learn and develop these skills over the years.
Why do you think you’ve had those opportunities? Uuuhhh, Thank You God!

As I considered this further, I was reminded about the many references in the Bible to the word “root”. The Lord makes it VERY clear that He is to be our root.

I pray that we can get to the root cause of all that we are thankful for and offer Thanksgiving appropriately – to God! May we be rooted only in Him. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Psalm 100 A Psalm of Thanksgiving. Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.

Colossians 2:6-7 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Barb