Thankful

  Thankful

  giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;

As Thanksgiving approaches many will be making preparations for the turkey dinner they will be enjoying with their loved ones. It is a time when we turn our thoughts on all the things we are thankful for. Ephesians 5:20 tells us that we are to give thanks ALWAYS for ALL things unto God... This scripture implies that we are to give thanks in the bad times as well as the good. It is easy to be thankful when life is going well, when the bills are paid, when our health is good, and when our loved ones are doing well. As we all know life isn't always sunshine and roses. Everybody has good times and bad times - that's just life.

Sometimes we have to look for the good in our day, the little blessings that God puts in our day. I'm very thankful for our two little grandchildren, but not as excited about the fact that they live so far away, and we see them only a few times a year. We enjoy all of the videos and pictures that our daughter emails us and I am thankful for them. Since we don't see them as much as we would like to we make the most of every precious moment we have with them.

Being thankful is a choice. We can choose to ignore the everyday blessings that come our way just because we had a bad day at work or the car broke down on the way to work - I've been there. Sometimes it's hard to see the good on those days, but it is there if we look hard enough because God is faithful and He never leaves us alone. I have found that looking for and being thankful for the little blessings has helped me through some very sad times.

There are so many things we could take for granted if we are not careful to have a thankful heart: the beautiful colors of fall, the lovely smells of spring, a little baby’s belly laugh - I could go on.

We must be careful to never let the things you want make you forget to be thankful for the things you have.

So I would challenge us all to look for things to be thankful for, not just during this Thanksgiving season, but all year long.

-Written By Keena Worley