Dream Awakener

Hills of South West Virginia

I wanted to wish you a happy thanksgiving, especially to those of you from countries who don’t celebrate this American holiday.

So what are you thankful for?  It is good to practice giving thanks all the time.  It does something to our spirit.  Just to write down things you are thankful for or to pray what you are thankful for.

EXPERIENCE THANKSGIVING EVERYDAY
According to the Apostle Paul, we can enjoy thanksgiving everyday (aside from our gluttonous tendencies), which is why he said, “In everything give thanks.” John Henry Jowett, a preacher from England says this about gratitude:  “Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.”

What did he mean? He meant that gratitude, like a vaccine, can prevent the invasion of a disgruntled, discouraged spirit. Like an antitoxin, gratitude can prevent the affects of the poisons of cynicism, criticalness, and grumbling. Like an antiseptic, a spirit of gratitude can soothe and heal the most troubled spirit.

Why is Giving Thanks Important?
Why give thanks? Because every day is a gift from God that we are called to unwrap; yet so often we miss many of the gifts that God gives us, because ingratitude is moral blindness. A blindness to the goodness of being alive, the beauty of creation, the love of friends and the joy of work. It’s a blindness to the fact that life is basically good.  The Psalmist said, “Praise the Lord, I tell myself; and never forget the good things he does for me.” (Ps. 103:2 NLT)

Seeing Life Differently
The more I have lived, the more that I have noticed that people who say “thank you” to God have a way of looking at life.  They see life differently.  And they know how and who to say “thank you” to. They regularly say “thank you” to God.  They know how to truly celebrate the great stuff, like being in love.  They have learned to thank God for the stuff most of us overlook. When they see a beautiful sunset, they say “thank you”. When they listen to music they enjoy, they say thanks. When they eat a delicious meal, or when they enjoy an evening with a friend, they are thankful.

They also have a way of being able to live with and live through the hard and difficult and disappointing things. Because for them, it’s all part of the gift of life that God has given. And they live out their thanks to God. Their life is lived out like a big thank-you note to God.

A teacher asked her students to list what they thought were the present Seven Wonders of the World. The students cast the most votes for: 1. Egypt’s Great Pyramids 2. Taj Mahal 3. Grand Canyon 4. Panama Canal 5. Empire State Building 6. St. Peter’s Basilica 7. China’s Great Wall

While gathering the votes, the teacher noticed that one student had not turned in her paper yet. She asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The girl replied, “Yes, a little. I couldn’t quite make up my mind because there were so many.” The teacher said, “Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help.” The girl hesitated, then read, “I think the Seven Wonders of the World are: 1. to see 2. to hear 3. to touch 4. to taste 5. to feel 6. to laugh 7. to love

This little girl understands something that we all need to remember, and that is the simple wonders of life. Every morning when we wake up and live out our day, we are simply unwrapping God’s gift to us. We have so much to be thankful for.