Wednesday, November 24, 2010

What Are You Thankful For?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. The day where we all set aside some time to be thankful for all that we have, and for those around us. But what does it mean to be thankful? Well, a basic look at the word would lead us to believe that we are to be full of thanks. Thanks for what? Thanks for whom? These are some important questions for us to ask don't you think? I was reading a passage in the Bible today, take a look at it.

Colossians 3:14 - 16 (The Message)
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

There is a lot of great stuff in here, but I want to look at the sentence, "And cultivate thankfulness." What I'm seeing here is that thankfulness is not an automatic thing in our lives. We have to make sure that we are walking in thankfulness each and every day, no body is going to do it for us.

We all have things that we can be thankful for, I'm reminded of an old saying I heard the other day; "I was unthankful for not having a pair of shoes, until I met a man who had no feet." In order for us to be thankful, we actually have to look at the things we do have, not the things we wish we had.

Tomorrow may or may not be a great day for you, for whatever reason. Maybe you don't like to be around your family, maybe you can't be around your family because they are too far away, or you have to work. Whatever the case may be, look around at what you do have, and be thankful for that. Thank God for what He has done for you, after all we wouldn't be breathing if it wasn't for Him.

Thanksgiving is more than just eating turkey, and watching football...remember to be thankful, and work at cultivating that thankfulness into a huge harvest. Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

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