I don’t know if you are like me or not but I think a lot more about being thankful around Thanksgiving, it’s not that I am not thankful the rest of the year, but I become really thankful at Thanksgiving. I think more about the birth of Jesus and what that means at Christmas than the rest of the year. I think more about being Christ like when in church on Sunday than the rest of the week. Maybe that is just the life we lead. I think more about football during the season, the same with basketball and baseball.
If you are a player your thoughts may be different. I would imagine that a football player, a serious player, thinks about football all year long. I think about work all year long. I think golfers think about golf all year long. Most people think about healthy eating all year long except at Thanksgiving and Christmas (speaking from experience). I guess it comes down to how serious you are about something that determines how much time you spend thinking about it.
We should be thankful year around. We should think about the importance of the birth of Christ year around. We should act like Jesus all week long. A person in a sport knows that if they don’t work at it all year long they won’t play at the most advanced levels. If we don’t concentrate on work all year long we will not be successful. We need to take our Christian life and responsibilities just as serious.
But since it is Thanksgiving lets think about it. I have asked our children several times this week,” What are you thankful for?”. Adam said he was thankful for veterans and Grandma, Luke said he was thankful for the great opportunities there are in this country and the sacrifices that men and women made to give us these opportunities. Ashton, on the other hand, said she was thankful for “aminals”. Yes, I spelled it just like she said it. What a variation coming from the thoughts of a six year old to a very intellectual eleven year old.
Psalm 100 is titled, “A psalm for giving thanks.” It would be good to read it daily.
“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever, his faithfulness continues through all generations.”
In Psalm 116:12 the psalmist writes, “How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me?” and answers his own question in verse 17, “I will sacrifice a thank offering to you…I will fulfill by vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord…Praise the Lord.” Offer thanks, fulfill my vows, praise God. Can you think of anything simpler yet more effective? If our children would offer this to us we would be surprised and pleased. God wouldn’t be surprised but He would be pleased.
Read Psalm 100 once more. Know that He is God, know that we are His, know that we are welcome in His presence, and know that His faithfulness endures through all generations.
Thanksgiving needs to be more than a one-day event. What are you thankful for?
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