You may not be asking this question. It may be plain to you that you owe God thanks for all that he has done for you. But you also might be thinking, if God knows everything he already knows I’m thankful, so why do I have to tell him? Thanksgiving is only partly for the person receiving thanks. Even when I know that someone is thankful for something I’ve done, it still feels good to actually hear the words. God is seeking a personal relationship with you, not one that is simply working on autopilot. So I need to say thanks to God and be specific. What exactly am I thanking God for? We’ve all been guilty of the generic “Thanks for everything, Amen.” We need to break it down, not for God, but for ourselves. We need to take accounting of all that God has done for us to remind us of his goodness.
That brings us to the second reason to give thanks, it’s good for us. It’s easy to look around and see where someone else has it better than we do. They have a bigger home, newer car, better looking spouse. But when I stop and offer thanks, especially when I make it specific, I have to really think about what God has done for me, not just for the generic crowd, but for me personally.
Jacqueline has had us on a project this year, a gratitude jar. She has cut out hundreds of little pieces of paper and we are to write on them something we are grateful for. Come Thanksgiving we are to empty the jar and read of all the things over the year we have been thankful for. I have to admit she is way ahead of me in filling the jar and it’s down to the wire for me to come up with some things to add to the jar. But if I think about it I know God has been so good to me this year, and after all it’ll be good for me to give thanks.
Don
That brings us to the second reason to give thanks, it’s good for us. It’s easy to look around and see where someone else has it better than we do. They have a bigger home, newer car, better looking spouse. But when I stop and offer thanks, especially when I make it specific, I have to really think about what God has done for me, not just for the generic crowd, but for me personally.
Jacqueline has had us on a project this year, a gratitude jar. She has cut out hundreds of little pieces of paper and we are to write on them something we are grateful for. Come Thanksgiving we are to empty the jar and read of all the things over the year we have been thankful for. I have to admit she is way ahead of me in filling the jar and it’s down to the wire for me to come up with some things to add to the jar. But if I think about it I know God has been so good to me this year, and after all it’ll be good for me to give thanks.
Don
RSS Feed
