Twas the morning after Thanksgiving, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse….
I don’t know about you, but that pretty much described my house this morning… unless you’re one of those crazy black Friday fanatics who was up at the crack of dawn before you’d even finished digesting your turkey and stuffing.
Although I can’t deny that I’m beyond excited for the Christmas season, a part of me wishes thanksgiving had a little bit more of a “season” too. Thanksgiving is the day of gratitude, but it doesn’t have to be the only one.
In a world busy and bubbling, full of distractions and demands, too often we can move from one thing to the next. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, from Christmas to New Year, from praying for something for months, to moving on to the next thing once our prayers have been answered. From one achievement to the next. From one worry to the next. And on, and on and on, and on..
You know how it is.
I’ll admit it’s hard not to do. We are wired that way from living in a world that thinks that the here and now is all there is. From living in a materialistic and entertainment oriented society, where we’re always craving more, even though we almost always have more than enough.
And I’m not pointing fingers. I do it too.
But I think when God commanded us to be thankful, he wanted us to be thankful more than just once a year. I’m sure we’d all agree with that, but I have to admit, I think it’s only at thanksgiving dinner that my family goes around the table telling each other what we’re thankful for. Yet how many times do we go around the table and talk about what we’re anxious about and what our worries are…from our jobs, to our health, to the state of our country.
We are more prone to grumble than to be grateful.
But I don’t want to live that way. God commands us in his word to war against that tendency. He commands us to be thankful.
So today, this day after thanksgiving, take time to reflect on the gift of Gods grace that has been poured out on you. Thank him for it, and for all the other blessings that we so often take for granted.
And keep doing it.
Even as we move from Thanksgiving to Christmas, and from Christmas to New Year. Because the world won’t stop.
But we can. And we can stop to be thankful.
“Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.” -Psalm 118:19
