In our pursuit of giving thanks; it might be helpful to start a list in a notebook or scratch pad that you can carry with you.
Many times thoughts will come to me as I am shopping or writing or cleaning my home.
Write it down. Name it, give it a purpose and meaning.
It is a really easy habit to begin and once you start; it would be easy to exceed the list of one thousand.
I love to be with people who have an attitude of gratitude.
They have a circle of hope all around them and they are positive people to be with.
When you think of giving thanks it is a time for appreciation too.
When someone gives you something, the polite response is to say to them, “Thank you.”
Meaning I appreciate your thoughtfulness, I am in honor of your thought of me.
It makes me feel really special that they went out of their way to do something nice.
It is gratitude, and a posture of receiving.
In the same way; when we begin an attitude of gratitude and apply thankfulness in our hearts we make a choice.
Have you ever done something for someone and a few days later you received a thank you note in the mail?
Remember the surprise at receiving such a lovely hand written note?
That it would matter that much for them to take the time to say, ‘thank you?’
It kind of makes us want to do more.
Not for the notes in the mail but for the goodness that it creates.
I looked up the meaning of Thanksgiving, here is what it said:
the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, especially to God.
It doesn’t take much to say Thank you. If we are a believer it is really easy for us.
We can be thankful for every breath we receive, we can be thankful for every one in our lives who we love.
We can be thankful that we live where we have freedoms and choice in fact sometimes too many choices.
We can be thankful that we have medical care should we need it, and doctors who are prepared and trained.
We can be thankful that we have comfortable homes, and reliable cars.
So much of our every day, we can be thankful for and be in the posture of ‘I am so thankful.’
I do believe the first time you have a cold shower; you would so appreciate the hot water when it returns.
Little things, like light fixtures, washing machines and dryers.
There is so much around us on a day to day experience that we can be thankful for.
In our pursuit to create more thanksgiving in our lives, may we learn to integrate it so much that it is natural.
Shall we begin today to make a list and speak it out?
God I am so thankful for… and write it down.