As we in the USA are fully aware, our annual Thanksgiving Day holiday is right around the corner. Most of our focus on this day is centered around the roasted turkey that didn't receive a pardon, yet it is not uncommon to see the retail/marketing world move from Halloween directly to Christmas mode with little thought of the day set aside to give thanks for all we have been given. If you think about it, Halloween and Christmas garner a great deal of worldly attention because the focus is set more on what you "get" as opposed to what you "give". Hence Thanks"giving" which is, as it should be, more about giving thanks. We have so much to be thankful for faith, family, and friends top my list with opportunities and lessons learned following close behind. But, today I want to spotlight something that I am thankful for that may sound a little redundant at first, but if you sit and ponder on it for a minute, my hope is that you can add one more thing to your list of all the things you are thankful for this Thanksgiving season.
Way too many people live life without seeing how blessed they actually are, and that keeps them from enjoying the life they have been given to live. I'll use the term grateful here. If you aren't thankful for all you have, regardless of how little or how much you have, the art of being grateful for you may seem foreign or indescribable. What would it be like if we could get to a place where as we give thanks for all we have been given, we include a thankful thought for being able to recognize that we recognize how blessed we actually are? Like I said when we started out today's message, redundant right? Not really.
Some of us give thanks and some of us say thanks, but how many of us realize how thankful we should really be? Let me be the first to go on record to say "Thank you" for the ability to be grateful on the Sunday before the Thursday we traditionally "give thanks" for all we have been given. The world feels broken, we work to "get" for self, we self-promote to "get" likes and views, we covet what our neighbor has and then we go out and "get" one better than theirs. What if we could stop placing the emphasis on "getting" more stuff and focus on what we have already been given and give thanks for that each and every day?
I have room to grow in this area, I haven't mastered the art of being thankful in all situations and under all circumstances, but I am thankful that I have been given eyes to see how fortunate I am and how I enjoy saying thank you for all I do have. I am thankful that I don't take that for granted. I am grateful that I am a thankful person. May I go about each day, not just Thanksgiving Day, thanking those that have given me the opportunities I have been given and thanking my Maker for all that I have been given. And God my provider, I am grateful that I am a thankful person and not someone that is always wanting more. The Apostle Paul tells me that "You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God." I Corinthians 9:11, which speaks to my heart telling me to realize that I am thankful and thank God each day for having that peace of mind and clarity of purpose.
As we approach Thanksgiving this Thursday, is there a chance you will stop and give thanks for all you have and all you have been given? In so doing, give a little time to thanking God for the ability to see just how much we have been given. Pray for gratefulness and how you show the world you live in that you are thankful for being thankful!
So grateful that I am thankful!
Coach Carter
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