Happy Thanks-giving and Grateful for Thanks-Living
Happy Thanksgiving! I’m so thankful for YOU! I’m thankful you’re my friend, family member or casual acquaintance, but the fact that you may read my daily blogs from time to time, humbles me, and encourages me to keep on doing what I know God called me to do. THANK YOU for your love!
I’m so thankful…..PERIOD. It’s Thanksgiving day when we amp up our hearts of gratitude for the many blessings in our lives. This morning I woke up. Oh, let’s begin there. I woke up. I got out of bed. I’m so thankful for my bed and a good night’s sleep. I got out of bed all on my own. I went to the restroom. I could go to the restroom all on my own, and my “plumbing” worked.
I think you can see what I mean. Hearts of gratitude start with being thankful for each detail of our lives — way more than the usual like thankful for God, family, friends, home, car, clothes. Let’s go beyond those. Today, let’s REALLY take thanks-giving and thanks-living seriously! It’s a mindset….reset! It looks like this: “I hear my dishwasher running. I’m thankful I can hear. Oh, yes! My dishwasher!” My eyes go to my Bible. “Thank you, God, for your Word AND thank You that I can see.” I am sitting in a comfy chair — “furniture”. I’m cozy and warm in my “home”. I see my computer – “computer and internet”. I glance over at my refrigerator that holds food “refrigerator and food”.
Everything from the breath we breathe to the bills we pay is a reason for thanks-giving. Bills we pay? Oh yes, those bills represent something to be thankful for — a car payment (we have a car); a house payment (we have a home); an electrical bill (we have a warm home). Everywhere we look are things to be grateful for. When we live in an attitude of gratitude (thanks-living), rather than being bugged that the computer is too slow, we say, “I’m thankful for my computer”. Instead of complaining about our “old” car, we say, “I’m thankful for a car.” Instead of saying “I have nothing to wear, we say, “I’m thankful for my clothes.” Instead of complaining about our boss or co-worker, we say “I’m so grateful for my job.” Instead of saying “I’m done with 2020 and all the interruptions, inconveniences and disappointments” – we say” “I’m so thankful we have survived 2020 and God, You have been faithful and so good to us.”
A grateful heart sees each day as a gift. That means we should live in the mode of thanks-living. Thankful people focus less on what they lack and more on the privileges and blessings they have. A grateful heart is like a magnet that collects reasons for gratitude — for the paper clip to hold those pages together; for the milk in our cereal; for the song that soothes us; for the clock we hear ticking; for the light that turns on; for the safe drive home; for the clean water from our tap, for the time we had with our loved ones. Thank you, Lord!
May we choose gratitude as a habit that we choose daily as a way of life. May we adjust our lens and see our lives and our world through the eyes of a grateful heart. May we be overwhelmed with the beauty and abundance of it all. When we live with that kind of gratitude, we will experience Thanksgiving-Living….everyday!