Spoiler Alert! Continuation of previous post.
In yesterday’s post I gave three suggestions for making Thanksgiving more than a meal. I should have also added “making it more than just watching 100 hours of football.” Yeah, I know. Sl-i-i-ight exaggeration there but still on the money. I must be an oddball though. I have NO desire to sit in front of a TV screen watching 22 men who desperately need rest being watched by thousands of people who desperately need exercise. (I heard that somewhere before). 🙂 Oh yeah…back from my rabbit trail. Three suggestions:
First, open your eyes to all you have to be thankful for. I was given a quote by someone years ago that I recently found:
Your best day is never so good that you don’t need God’s grace; your worst day is never so bad that you are beyond God’s grace. (Jerry Bridges)
Second, be thankful in the good and bad times. Life is hard, without a doubt, and comes at us from all sides. That which happens to us can either tear us down or build us up.
Third (and I said I would comment on this one further today): accept the gifts that seem imperfect. I suggested yesterday that we should thank God for our full stomach; there are those with empty ones. Thank God for your lumpy bed; there are those who wish they had one. Thank God for your warm house; there are those who wish they had one to come home to. Thank God for the clothes on your back (even though they are not designer); there are those who wish they had your hand-me-downs. Thank God for your family; there are those who wish they had one. And, of course, be thankful for the freedom to worship as we please in this country; there are those who have none.
Near the end of the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, Clarence tells George, “See George, you really did have a wonderful life.” Perhaps that is something we can tell ourselves this Thanksgiving: “I really do have a wonderful life.”
Okay. Quiz time: What movie do you think I plan to watch this Thursday while riding my bike?? 🙂
I love your gratitude perspective examples, Bill. I will be adding a link to this in my post tomorrow. Great stuff!
Thank you Pam. I am humbled and honored you would do that.
Oh, yes, we have countless blessings for which to be thankful, Bill. Let us treasure each of them and give God the glory!
I love that quote from Jerry Bridges and I’ll bet you’re going to watch “Back to the Future,” am I right? LOL!
Blessings!
Thanks Martha. Glad I can help you count them all. Actually, I am watching BTTF now as I ride. But my Thanksgiving movie will be It’s a Wonderful Life. 🙂
“Back to the Future?”… 🙂 Ok, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
BTTF is on my docket right now as I ride. But on Thanksgiving Day you are right…it will “IAWL”
God truly is all we need, but God provides and blesses us with so much more than than just our needs. Being thankful and grateful should be a daily practice. It is easy to long for what we think we need, or let ourselves chase after the next shiny object. Praying that when the Lord looks over our fence, He sees wide corners and a grateful hearts. Leviticus 23:22
Very well said Gail. You say it right when you say that gratitude should be a daily practice. And yes, may He see wide corners and grateful hearts.