Thankfulness is easy. It just requires a small amount of effort because most of us have abundant and enormous blessings. Some of us have to look through the messes of sickness and difficulties to see the blessings, but they are always there for those who are willing to look.
The problem with gratitude is that it can also create a habit of self-centeredness. We feel we’ve earned those abundant blessings. We forget that we have a God who blesses and gives. We are receivers, not earners. We are blessed, not deserving. As we reflect on that for which we are thankful, be careful that your blessings make you thankful for the Giver and not focused on the receiver. Gratitude that doesn’t end in proper worship isn’t gratitude.
As you say thanks today, be careful. It’s not thanks for my house, my job, my accounts, my family, or my toys. That treats God as Santa, a stranger who mysteriously fulfills wishes. That focuses on “my.”
As you say thanks today, remember the Giver. Give thanks for His provision, His grace, His blessings, His kindness, mercy, and love. Give thanks that He has given you a family to raise for His glory. Be thankful that He has extended your family to include His family. Be thankful He is a good Father. That focuses on Him.
Today is a day for thanksgiving. And it is a day we should love above all others because heaven will be one long Thanksgiving Day. We will sit at the banquet table with His throne at the head of the table, giving thanks-laced worship, and remembering He is reason for our every eternal blessing.
I hope you enjoy a piece of heaven today.
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