Honoring Thanksgiving - Week Two

In 1897, Johnson Oatman Jr. wrote the lyrics to a well known hymn "Count Your Many Blessings." The first verse and the refrain from that hymn set the tone for this week's article focusing on Thanksgiving.

"When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one,

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one;

Count your blessings, see what God hath done;

Count your blessings, name them one by one;

Count your many blessings, see what God hath done."

When you and I begin to enumerate all the blessings we have received and are receiving in life, we should immediately be impressed to give thanks to God for He is the One who bestows blessings on us. In today's environment, we often lose sight of how we are cared for and blessed. Rather, than focusing on blessings, we shift our focus to areas of displeasure, discouragement, and grief. These can create a fog or haze over our eyes and mind that make it hard to see all the blessings for which we might give thanks. Because of that possibility, the following is a list of some things that might create a reason for you to give thanks to God this Thanksgiving. Granted that not everything on this list may apply to you, but I am guessing that all of us will find several things that will refocus our thoughts toward blessings and Thanksgiving.

• Family - current and past. This includes a spouse, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. We are also products of many who came before us: parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. Don't leave out your in-laws, and your siblings.

• Values that others have helped instill in you - love, kindness, work ethic, and service.

• Friends - Some have stood beside you through all the low spots of life and have been there to celebrate with you in the brightest of moments.

• Faith - This broad category has to begin with God who demonstrated His love for you first and foremost through Jesus Christ who gave Himself on a cross, was buried, and rose from the grave on the third day. This event gave you a true, lasting foundation for faith in God through Jesus Christ. Thankfulness for faith also extends to your church where the Bible is faithfully taught that you might grow in your discipleship relationship with Jesus.

• Food - I realize that many families are already putting together their Thanksgving Day menu and purchasing some of the ingredients. Many will eat lavishly. Don't forget to give thanks for the food - first to God who is the ultimate provider and then to the wonderful cooks in your family who did the preparations. One final thought - many will not have your size meal if they have anything at all. Find ways to give so that others may also eat and be thankful.

• All of God's creation - The beauty of nature, the expansiveness of the universe, the daily components that we experience like sunshine, rain, and seasons of the year, and of course the wide varietly of people in appearance, personality, and nationality - all of these give reason to give thanks.

Of course there is no way that I could list every possibility for finding those things and people for which you and I could give thanks. So I challenge you to expand this list or create your own. Once that is done, stop and give thanks to God for all that count as blessings. Then, maybe, just maybe, on Thanksgiving Day, you might take some time to share some things for which you are truly thankful. You might even take time to visit, call, or share with someone you are with, how you are thankful for them.

I encourage you and myself to make this Thanksgiving Day something more than just food and football. I am thankful for each of you. Have a thankful week.