Thanks Living

It has been fun to see all the November Facebook comments from friends and

groups who are using this month to daily look for things to be thankful for. It has ranged from being thankful for the health of our children to loving comfort fall foods like homemade Mac and Cheese. I am sure that those participating in a month of Thanks-Living are also noticing a very subtle, yet very real, attitude and focus shift as they have chosen to look for good things to remember and dwell on.

Being grateful opens up a new way of life for us. Anyone can complain and be ugly about things. All of us can spin in our emotional selves. But a woman who Thanks God, a woman who looks for good…that woman can expect something very different.

Philippians 4:8..”if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things…and the God of peace will be with you.” But, before this Paul said in Philippians 3:1 ” Finally, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.” Obviously Paul knew something that we need to remember…rejoicing, being thankful, practicing looking for the good, is a safeguard for our mental and spiritual health.

But, what IF thanking God is hard or doesn’t come naturally? What if the problem at hand looks larger than anything else in sight? Well, for most of us,remaining thankful when life if less than perfect, is not our natural default. But praising God can be our new default system over time. We can change. Through Jesus we can develop a mindset of seeing God in all things, trusting Him in all things and learning to be thankful no matter what the day brings. Look at what we find in the book of Hebrews:

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Hebrews 13:15-16

The word sacrifice means: to give up, or to count as a loss.

For me this means that to live a life of Thanks, I will have to many times count as a “loss” or sacrifice my feelings and emotions on the altar of trusting God with my life and details. When I do this, I can then by faith, through Jesus, begin thanking God in all things. Only then does it make sense, as only then is my focus on something bigger and grander than self or feelings.

So today, think about this idea of offering continual thanks to God. What keeps you from doing that? What might look different if you did? What have you experienced when you have had seasons of thankfulness?

Let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of Praise!

Today is day #14, and I thank God for the health to go to Zumba class, the opportunity to share Christ with others, for my family and for pumpkin muffins! As I move through the day, I will continue to thank Him for thing after thing as I acknowledge all that is excellent and good in my path.