Latest News
Nov./Dec. response: Mission Matters
World Thank Offering and Little Blessings We Take for Granted
by Christi Campos
It’s that time of year when we are reminded to be thankful for all that we have. This year, I’ve been thinking about how my list of things to be thankful for has changed over the years. Has yours? Certainly, most of us are so amply blessed that we can put our faith, family, friends, food, and shelter at the top of our list of things to be thankful for. The order of that list might be rearranged in order of what is important to us at the time, but they are almost always on our lists.
Photo: Christi Campos
As Christians, Christ reminds us to thank God for these continued blessings and we do. But what about those simple everyday blessings we forget to be thankful for? The things in our lives that we take for granted, the many little gadgets and devices that we have at our fingertips to make our lives easier each day, the things our grandmothers did not have or even imagine having.
Throughout my childhood and teen years, my mother would always say the same thing when I asked a question, “Well, let’s get the encyclopedia down and see what we can find.” I remember being so impressed with the wealth of knowledge that was right on our bookshelves, assuming our house was the only one with this power.
And when I asked a faith-based question, Mom wisely directed me saying, “Well, let’s see what the Bible says about that.”
And, if all else failed when trying to get the answers to homework questions, there was always a trip to the library and the old Dewey decimal system.
Now, I’m ashamed to say that if my Google fiber internet service takes more than two seconds to come up, I’m frustrated. If my phone is glitching and won’t work right for a few minutes, I’m upset. Here I am with the answers to just about any question I could ever have at my fingertips, and I’m mad that it’s taking more than a few seconds. Our lives have most definitely changed, haven’t they?
If you have been in United Women in Faith, or our predecessor organizations, for more than 20 or 30 years, you will remember the World Thank Offering calendar that gave us suggestions of the small things we could be thankful for around our home and then place change in our Thank Banks to represent those small blessings. Then we would turn those in when our unit had the World Thank Offering program, usually in November.
Some of you, I’m sure, still use your calendars and Thank Banks, and that is great. But I’m finding that many units across the country have left that part of the World Thank Offering program in the past, perhaps not even having a World Thank Offering Program from the program book each year. Well, you know what? Some things work so well, they don’t need to be changed. Perhaps just updated.
When I sat down to find a World Thank calendar for my own new unit to follow, I was surprised how out of date the ones I could find were. So, I set about updating it. For example, instead of how many tea towels you have in your drawer, now we are more likely to count how many electronic screens we have in our home and put money in our Thank Banks to remind us of those things that make our lives easier.
You can get a copy of my updated World Thank calendar by going to uwfaith.org/blog/2026/world-thank-offering-2026/. Or, have fun as a unit making your own calendars and making your own Thank Banks, together. The calendars and Thank Banks remind us to be thinking of the World Thank Offering all year.
Above all, I hope you will have a World Thank Offering program this month or next. They are newly written each year, in your program books, and easily downloadable at no charge on uwfaith.org/digital.
World Thank Offering is one of the five channels of undesignated Mission Giving, so let’s all remember the big and little things we are thankful for all through the year, and have fun making your own Thank Bank!
DEACONESS CHRISTI CAMPOS is United Women in Faith’s executive for Development and Donor Relations.
