Tag: Thanksgiving

The Day Before Black Friday

Sometimes I feel sorry for Thanksgiving. 

Some have called it the most neglected of the major holidays. Although it gets more attention than Ground Hog Day (sorry Bill Murray), it’s slowly getting squeezed out by the Christmas, the king of the hill as far as holidays are concerned. Even Black Friday, which has taken over Thanksgiving Friday and is making its moves on Thursday, gets more respect than it deserves. 

Thanksgiving does lack the pageantry and presents of Christmas. It’s meant to be simple, but so much has changed. It’s now become a day that’s more about overeating (gorging might be a better word), football watching (the original binge watching), dish washing (somebody has to do it), and Christmas shopping (sigh). 

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

We can choose for Thanksgiving to be more of what it was meant to be. (It’s actually more of what Christmas should be as well) – a day when family and friends cease from their labor, thank God for his blessings, and enjoy some of his blessings, all the while growing closer together and closer to him.  

Sorry, Thanksgiving, for the way I’ve treated you over the years. This year, help me remember to be truly thankful. 

*Image Courtesy of Priscilla Du Prees

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Sorry for Thanksgiving

Sometimes I feel sorry for Thanksgiving. 

Some have called it the most neglected of the major holidays. Although it gets more attention than Ground Hog Day (sorry Bill Murray), it’s slowly getting squeezed out by the Christmas, the king of the hill as far as holidays are concerned. Even Black Friday, which has taken over Thanksgiving Friday and is making its moves on Thursday, gets more respect than it deserves. 

Thanksgiving does lack the pageantry and presents of Christmas. It’s meant to be simple, but so much has changed. It’s now become a day that’s more about overeating (gorging might be a better word), football watching (the original binge watching), dish washing (somebody has to do it), and Christmas shopping (sigh). 

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

We can choose for Thanksgiving to be more of what it was meant to be. (It’s actually more of what Christmas should be as well) – a day when family and friends cease from their labor, thank God for his blessings, and enjoy some of his blessings, all the while growing closer together and closer to him.  

Sorry, Thanksgiving, for the way I’ve treated you over the years. This year, help me remember to be truly thankful.


*Photo courtesy of Pro Church Media and Unsplash.

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Bad Mood

bad_mood_by_tomekk01

“Has God ever done anything for me?”

I sometimes ask myself this question when I’m in a really bad mood.  My answer always starts with, “I can’t think of anything at the moment, but I sure can think of a lot of bad things that have happened to me.”

Do you know why we sometimes give in to that way of thinking?  It’s because we get so concentrated on our current circumstances that we start counting our curses and completely forget about counting our blessings.

So, how do we turn that around?  We have to start small and retrain ourselves to count our blessings.  We should start by saying something like, “Thank You, God, that I’m still alive.  Thank You that I can get up this morning!  Thank You for this place where I live.  Thank You for my friends and my family!  Thank You that I have the opportunity to worship You.”

If we thank God for what comes to mind, no matter how small, He will instantly bring more to our attention.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever.  Psalm 118:1

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Why We Should Give Thanks

Today is Thanksgiving.  It’s a day set aside for us to give thanks to God for his many blessings.  When I think of this holiday, I am reminded of a Bible story from Luke 17.

Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem when He heard ten lepers calling out to him from a distance.  In that day, people with leprosy were basically cast out of regular society because they were very contagious.  Because of this, when these men saw Jesus, they didn’t approach Him but instead called out to Him from a distance, “Jesus!  Master!  Have mercy on us!”

The Bible says that Jesus simply looked at them and said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”  The lepers obeyed Jesus and as they made their way to find the priests, they were completely healed of their leprosy.  One of the men, when he realized that he was healed, ran back to Jesus, shouting praises to God, and fell at Jesus’ feet, thanking Him for his healing.  As the man was still kneeling, Jesus asked him, “Didn’t I heal ten men?  Where are the other nine?”

Here’s one lesson we can learn from this story:  When the ten lepers cried out to Jesus, they had to do so from a distance because they weren’t allowed to approach anyone because of their leprosy.  However, when they were all healed, only this one man ran back to thank Jesus.  In doing so, he was the only one of the ten who was able to come close enough to throw himself at Jesus’ feet.  So basically, the one who gave thanks was the only one who was able to touch Jesus.  You see, there can be extreme benefits in expressing our gratitude to the Lord.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  Remember to give thanks.

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