Thanksgiving

Thankfulness and Giving  

 Everyday that we wake up is a gift from God. How we choose to spend it is up to us. We can be thankful, or complain about it. We are not promised a new day, or night. Too often, people take for granted the "smaller" things in life to be thankful for. I am not talking about family and friends and food in your belly. Those are the normal, every year thankfulness gestures. Of course, we are all thankful and grateful to have these things in our life.

  I want you to stop a moment and think about something. Picture yourself driving down the road and you come to a stop sign. There is a homeless man standing on the side of the road with a sign "Please help, stranded and need food." What is the first thing that comes to your mind? I am sure most of you say, "He can work just like me" or maybe you say to yourself "I am not going to give him any money, he will just blow it on booze and drugs" Think about this, you should be so thankful to God that #1, that is not you standing there begging for food or money, #2, you have a vehicle that God allows you to drive every day to go back and forth to work and #3, instead of standing on the side of the road, cold and starving, you have a nice warm home and family to drive home to. Maybe he has no family to turn to, maybe he has no friends, or even worse, maybe he doesn't know God.  

 Thankfulness is an everyday thing for us. As we quickly approach this year's Thanksgiving holiday, take the time to really think about what you are so very thankful for. The little things like, the smile on your child's face when you tell her you love her, the warm inviting house that you are so lucky to have during these cold winter months, the car that starts on the first turn of the key so you won't be late for work, a loving spouse, a family pet, a comfy chair to sit in and re-coop after a long day's work, a bath for relaxation, a three year old that breaks into the bathroom and splashes you in the face right in the middle of that "relaxing bath." Yes, I am still thankful.  

I am so thankful and grateful for all of the "little things" and "BIG things" in my life. Sometimes we all take God's plan for our lives for granted. We forget that everything we do was planned and purposely put in our lives for a reason. The definition of the word Thankful is: feeling or expressing gratitude; appreciative. I think that is a big part of God's plan. He wants us to not only be thankful and grateful for the things he allows in our lives, we should also express gratitude. When you see that smile on your child's face, give her an even bigger smile back followed with a hug, when you walk into the warm house, snuggle up with your spouse under a big comfy blanket. Take advantage of the little thinks in life that you have to be thankful for.  

Psalm 107:1 "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever."