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Make Every Day of the Year Thanksgiving

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Not Just the One in the Month of November

2020 has been an interesting year to say the least. Sure, it’s been confusing and difficult, but it’s not like there hasn’t been confusion and difficultly before or won’t be again.

We get to choose our perspective – we can be unappreciative or we can be grateful.

“God’s Word challenges us: “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18). There’s no getting around it. God wants us to pray with thanksgiving when the future is uncertain, when heartbreak hits, and when shortfalls come.

It’s hard to be grateful in difficulties, but it’s not impossible. Daniel “prayed and gave thanks” (Dan. 6:10), knowing that his life was in danger. Jonah called out “with the voice of thanksgiving” (Jonah 2:9) while inside a fish! These examples, coupled with God’s promise that He will work all things together for our good and His glory (Rom. 8:28), can inspire us to be thankful in all things.”

March 11, 2013 — by Jennifer Benson Schuldt

Today is Thanksgiving – GIVE THANKS!

Why Only One Day for Thanksgiving? – Charles Dickens said that we are somewhat mixed up here in America. He told an audience that instead of having one Thanksgiving Day each year we should have 364. “Use that one day just for complaining and griping,” he said. “Use the other 364 days to thank God each day for the many blessings He has showered upon you.” 

I love this perspective. It is so easy to get pulled into the moaning and groaning of the headaches and disappointments of our everyday routines. Instead of allowing life to become a recuring doldrum be intentional and make thankfulness a part of our routines.

In his book, A Simple Act of Gratitude, John Kralik tells the story of how he found himself viewing his life from a perspective of dullness, debt and disaster. He felt cheated of the things he thought he deserved. One day while walking in the mountains he was inspired to write a thank you note each day. This act of writing these helped him recognize the abundance of things he had to be grateful for.

GIVE THANKS EVERY DAY!

Think of Those Who Have Less Than You – A mother and her two little children were destitute. In the depth of winter they were nearly frozen, and the mother took a cellar door off the hinges and set it up in front of the corner where they crouched down to sleep so that some of the draft and cold might be kept from them. One of the children whispered to her, “Mother, what do those poor children do who have no cellar door to put up in front of them?”

Thanksgiving is perspective. BE THANKFUL!

Being Thankful Is A State of Mind

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We Have So Much to Be Thankful For

 

Over the last several weeks our Sunday School discussion has continued to find its way back to a statement made by a journalist, that we don’t really have much to be thankful for. Thanksgiving is just a commercial excuse to eat too much and watch football.


I think eating and football are a couple of pretty good things to be thankful for.


This is like Lucy in the Peanuts comic strip when she’s whining about her life. Linus tells her that she should count her blessings. She goes on to say that she could count all her blessings on one finger. What does she have to be thankful for? Linus tells her, “…for one thing. You have a little brother who loves you…”

 


We don’t have to wallow, it’s a choice.


Negative things are a part of life, but we control how we are going to respond to them. We can choose to be thankful for the positive or we can wallow in the negative.


It’s sad that some people’s default perspective is feeling sorry for themselves. Sure, we all have times of feeling down and depressed. When feeling that way, we need to list the things that we have to be thankful for. Even if, like Lucy, it’s only one thing.


Earlier this week while listening to Andy Andrew’s weekly Professional Noticer episode, he read a Thanksgiving story, from his book, Return to Sawyerton Springs. Wade was feeling sorry for himself, until he listed ten things in his life that he had to be thankful for. The list consisted of everyday things that we take for granted too many times. Read or listen to the story and see the list here. 

 


Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and

CHOOSE to be THANKFUL.

 

 

We Can Choose to Be Thankful

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But It’s Up to Us to Decide

Yesterday was the Thanksgiving holiday for US. This brings the topic of giving thanks to the forefront of our thoughts. These discussions are every where and for a variety of reasons. Some are as simple as to remind us to be thankful. Some are using this as a marketing plan.

I received a lot of different Thanksgiving themed emails over the last week. Many had fantastic thanks giving messages. One was from one of my favorite authors, Andy Andrews. It was his weekly podcast titled, “A Thanksgiving State of Mind”. In this podcast Andy shares a story about finding thankfulness when you’ve lost your grateful spirit.

My fondness for Andy started with the reading of his book, “The Traveler’s Gift”. This book is about how one man’s choices made the difference between success and failure. I read it a little under six years ago while recovering from a concussion. I attribute much of my increased level of giving thanks to the connection I found with this story and my injury. It gave me a new appreciation for the gift of life that we have been given. Much of this improved awareness I can attribute to the “Seven Decisions” in the “Traveler’s Gift”.

 

 

Being THANKFUL is a CHOICE we make. We can DECIDE how we are going to live.

 

 

The Thanksgiving holiday in the United States started being officially celebrated in 1789, as proclaimed by George Washington. It was to commemorate the Pilgrims giving thanks for the harvest in 1621. We all have things to be thankful for. We just need to slow down long enough to think about it and to remember.

 


Why is it important to give thanks? – If we are giving thanks, we are acknowledging that there is someone to give thanks to. This acknowledgement is critical to our living a well-focused life. This is the understanding that everything we have and everything that we are comes from God.

 

Kenneth Copeland lists 5 benefits of thanks giving as:

  1. Thanksgiving brings God on the scene – Entering into thanksgiving you invite God’s presence into your life.
  2. Thanksgiving puts challenges in perspective – It reminds us of how powerful God is.
  3. Thanksgiving focuses your mind on the right subject – It helps us refocus our attention on the One who is greater than every challenge.
  4. Thanksgiving strengthens your faith – It reminds us of all that God has done and all that He will do.
  5. Thanksgiving is a weapon against the enemy’s maneuvers – When giving God praise our enemies will be turned back.

We have the “super-power” of choice at our discretion. We can choose to be THANKFUL or not. By choosing to GIVE THANKS we unleash God’s benefits in our lives and to all of those we connect with.


I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and that you will remember to give thanks all year long.