Thanks

Thankfulness. It is central to the holiday we will celebrate later this week.

Why do we often struggle with thankfulness? When we get what we ask for, we can tend to expect it more than show gratitude.

For example, when you go to a restaurant, do you thank the waitress or just act like you were supposed to get the food anyway?

Or when a parent drives you somewhere or lets you borrow the car, are you thankful or just act like it was something you deserve?

I could probably list numerous examples, but I hope you get the point.

In our service-oriented culture, I feel like we have lost the art of thankfulness. We have come to expect things the way we want them. And when things don’t go our way, we are likely to complain about it.

Maybe that’s why thankfulness is such an important thing. It teaches us to expect nothing and show gratitude for everything. It flies in the face of the “entitlement attitude” of today’s America. It asks us to realize that the world DOESN’T revolve around us. Thankfulness challenges us to remember that everything we receive is a gift.

This Thanksgiving weekend, I challenge you to go out of your way to thank people for every little thing. Let it be a time to develop a new habit of thankfulness. And in the process, watch God open your eyes to a whole new way of looking at things.

shine!
Jason