On October 3 rd of 1863, the late president Abraham Lincoln of America declared “Thanksgiving” a holiday in America. It is normally the 4 th Thursday of November. It was modeled after the New England colonist harvest feast. They were accustomed to regularly celebrating “Thanks Giving” days of prayer – thanking God for blessings such as military victory or end of a drought.
In every situation (no matter what the circumstances) be thankful and continually give
thanks to God; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thess 5v18
Even though I am not American I’ve had the pleasure of celebrating Thanksgiving with my friends and family the last 4 years in the States. This is normally the time families get together and spend some time thanking God for the past year’s blessings, however I have noticed that it has in some instances become more about the food and the shopping afterwards. (Black Friday)
Taken for granted
Now there is nothing wrong with being excited about all the delicious food like the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and all the pumpkin spice dishes, but it is about so much more. It is about giving thanks for what we have, and even what we think we don’t have. With this being said, I think we take a lot of things for granted. I overheard a conversation the other day between two mothers asking their children what was so hard or difficult about their day… in response to them just complaining about cleaning their room, doing chores in the house, etc. Children don’t realize what they have in their lives,
but I could see and tell their parents raising them to be grateful about things, like the fact that they have rooms to clean.
Blessed in many ways
Being grateful in big things in our lives is very easy, like for instance being healed of cancer, buying a new house, getting your dream job; but what about the fresh clean air that we get to breath in everyday, a good attitude from a normal grumpy person, and here is a tricky one…. the challenges and trials we sometimes face. These are all things we need to be thankful for, because it builds character. And God has a plan with everything in our lives. I have this friend that sees hearts in everything, like seeing it in an oil spill on the road, it made me realize how we need to have the right perspective about things. We are blessed in so many ways and we need to be thankful for it. Let’s appreciate and enjoy the challenges at work, difficult co-workers. Our focus should be being grateful that we have a job with challenges rather then unemployed.
Let us not just remember to be thankful during the month of November but every day that we get to be alive.
Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials. James 1v2
Read also: What is the meaning of this?!
