I don't really know why I haven't written in a record breaking 6 days. I used to do it every night before I went to bed as sort of a recap of my day and as my "quiet time" with God. Then I didn't, honestly, I was too tired from all the stuff I've been trying to do to get my life in Indiana set up, which I am quickly realizing is going to take much more than a couple of days given the amount of energy I have. Then I decided that I wasn't writing because I was sad, I'm in this new place, I don't have anyone to 'hang out with', I'm at home alone all day, I have zero money, I miss my friends, I miss my church, I miss so much and no one wants to hear me whine and complain all day about stuff that probably to you seems so trivial. Then I decided I was too sick to write anything and just needed to rest and writing was too stressful, plus no one wanted to hear about me being sick.
For the past 2 nights I've said, "I can't go to bed until I do my blog." And for the past 2 nights I've watched just one more episode of 'Friends' after another on Nick at Nite until I passed out and woke up at 3 am and that is not the time to write a blog for sure. So anyways...I haven't written, but now I am...even though I am finally writing now that doesn't mean that the aforementioned thoughts are still not ever present in my mind and my heart and probably going to influence my writing. But I want this post to be about thankfulness.
You see far too many people skip the whole Thanksgiving holiday thing and it kind of actually really upsets me. Thanksgiving is almost as important of a holiday as Christmas and Easter are in my opinion. But American culture go straight from Halloween (which I typically do not even celebrate--for example this year my mom and I only gave out candy to the cousins that came over and some other extended family members that had scheduled times to come trick or treating no one else received candy from us) to Christmas. Two holidays that are all about presents and gluttony and hoarding galore (besides the whole like Christ being born part of Christmas that is so often forgotten now a days). There are Christmas decorations up in stores before Halloween is even over and no one even bats an eye to think that Thanksgiving is a big deal anymore. Thanksgiving is important, we should all learn to be more thankful--especially in America where we have so much more than many other countries in the world, yet all we do is want want want more and more. Thanksgiving is celebrated because of our abundant blessings of food and a country that was founded where we have freedom. And you know Thanksgiving has to be important because only really important holidays warrant an entire week off school like the only other ones that get time off like that or more are Christmas and Easter (although those are now referred to winter and spring break). So why do more people not celebrate being thankful.
The Bible has an awful lot to say about Thanksgiving and being thankful let me just share a couple verses with you:
"give thanks in ALL circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thes 5:18
"giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" Ephesians 5:20
"oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!" Psalm 107:1
"and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Colossians 3:15-17
We are called to be thankful, and I, for one, confess that the past week I have not followed the path of what God would want me to do in being thankful. I have not in whatever I have done in the past week been thankful...but then I remembered my issue with forgetting thanksgiving and remember what I did last year in November to celebrate thanksgiving. Every day in the month of November (all 30 of them not just until Thanksgiving) I made my facebook status for the day something that I am thankful for. And I am ashamed to admit that it was a very, very hard task there towards the end to have enough to have 30 different things. I wrote them all down so I would not repeat. So I am doing it again this year and am going to try to live this next month with only a thankful attitude...which I am honestly telling you I have already failed at...but that is the point of forgiveness and grace, right? Yesterday I was thankful for being able to sleep in so I could feel better and today I was thankful for having some energy to get things accomplished...sooo there are my first 2 days of being thankful, what are yours? There have also been some other pretty cool things going on in Terre Haute life, but this posting has been a little long so I will save that for tomorrow...which I promise will come...because I will be better about blogging...
So find something to be thankful for today, because I guarantee you, even if you think your life stinks and you are the bottom of the barrel...you have something to be thankful for and you are much better off than most of the people in the world...so be thankful for that...
No comments:
Post a Comment