Thanksgiving is a time when the world gets to see just how blessed and how workable the Christian system is. The emphasis is not on giving or buying, but on being thankful and expressing that appreciation to God and to one another.

Clayton frames Thanksgiving not primarily as a cultural holiday of consumption but as a public demonstration of Christian practice. The “world gets to see” suggests a witness-bearing moment: gratitude is meant to be visible, communal, and directed beyond the self. By contrasting “giving or buying” with “being thankful,” the quote critiques the commercialization of the season and re-centers it on gratitude as a spiritual discipline. The final clause—appreciation “to God and to one another”—links vertical devotion with horizontal ethics, implying that genuine thankfulness should produce humility, generosity, and strengthened relationships rather than mere ritual or material exchange.