THANKSGIVING!

One of the challenges with Thanksgiving is that it brings into undeniable focus our need to be thankful.

This is difficult at times because all we see in front of us suggests that we have more reason for grumbling than thanking. Our life seems to be riddled with problems and pain.

Equally true is that some find themselves in a season of great prosperity, with impeccable health, a solid family life, an excellent job, financial stability, and an all-around good life ... yet the only thankfulness they seem to feel is self-directed. They’re thankful for the hard work they put into exercising, for the excellent parenting they engage in, for their diligence at work, their performance at home, and their finesse in personal finances.

BOTH HAVE THE DISEASE OF SELF-ITUS!

One can’t stop looking at the mirror of “Woe is me” and the other gazes into the mirror of “Woah is me!”

Both are walking a dangerous road...not necessarily one that questions God’s existence but rather His relevance... it’s not that He’s not there it’s just that He doesn’t matter. For one, God’s irrelevance is highlighted in “my pain”, and for the other, His irrelevance is spotlighted in “my prosperity”.

Here are a few thoughts I hope you will find helpful.

1. Thankfulness is more a discipline of the heart than a feeling in our “feelers”. CHOOSE!- EPH 5:20

2. Troublesome seasons of life are often God's greatest tools to do in you what you could never do on your own, in order to do through you what you could never imagine. COUNT!- JAMES 1:1-5

3. Prosperity or blessing, says far more about God’s greatness and grace than it does your goodness and glory. If the parable of the thankless lepers teaches us anything, it’s that we are to practice the discipline of self-forgetfulness which will often require us to stop and turn around! TURN! -Lk 17:12-19

4. Although some trials are beautiful interruptions of grace from God, they can also be the natural result of poor or even sinful decisions. This is why the same author who tells us that we are to rejoice in our sufferings (1Peter 4:12-14) also reminds us that we should NOT inflict suffering upon ourselves that results from sinful decisions. (1Peter4:15)

Pain often serves as a fantastic blessing to those of us who are fluent in the dance of “BAFOONERY”.

It’s a tremendous wake-up call, in some cases, that what we’re doing is harmful. So if you find yourself struggling to be thankful at the moment ...and if it’s entirely possible that your present troubles are those of your own making...see the pain as a blessing... a wake-up call, or in CS Lewis’s words, a “Megaphone” intended to get our attention. CONSIDER! -1PT 4:12-15

LET’S CHOOSE THANKFULNESS!