During the season of Thanksgiving, it's easy to be thankful, especially for family, friends, and feasting. But it's not so easy to be thankful for things like a flat tire, an empty wallet, or a gloomy day. And what about when that so called friend brings on hurt feelings? Or when a doctor speaks a dreaded diagnosis over your symptoms? Sometimes, the simple word no makes it difficult to be thankful.
Last Thanksgiving, something tragic happened that made it very hard for my family to be thankful. My mom's cousin was walking his dog that brisk morning and suddenly fell dead. Doctors and nurses tried all they could to revive him, but he had crossed over. How could this happen? And on Thanksgiving Day? Only God has the answers for situations like this, but all we can do is what the scripture instructs us to do in I Thessalonians. "In every thing, give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
One day out of 365, we are encouraged to be thankful. So I suppose it's a day we shove out all of the things that would strip us of gratefulness and clothe ourselves with the cloak of gratitude. What would happen, however, if we made every day of the year a day of thanksgiving? In spite of all the negatives, such as the wilting economy, the homeless, the abused, can we plow through with a spirit of thanksgiving? Being thankful is more than cliche'. It's disciplining our mind and our spirit, that no matter what comes our way, we will be thankful… everyday… in every thing.
