Today is Thanksgiving Day for Americans. In kitchens across the country, all sorts of meats, side dishes, & desserts are being made or cooked. At the same time, people are stressing. Did I cook enough? Is my house acceptable? Will everyone show up? Are others bringing food? Who's going to help clean up? Will someone start drama? Etc., etc., etc.
But not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving. Not everyone celebrates thanksgiving. Notice the difference. There are people who can't celebrate. There are people without food, without family, without a home. There are people living in dark places in their own head that they can't celebrate thanksgiving or Thanksgiving.
Be. Be thankful. Thankful for what you do have, even if it isn't much. Thankful for any family you have, even if they have issues. Thankful for your health, because no matter how many aches & pains or issues you have, you are above ground & every day is a gift. Thankful for yesterday, today, & tomorrow. Thankful for today, & everyday that you have to seek God & know Him, & redeem yourself.
Grateful: appreciative of favors
Gratitude: appreciation for favors
Thank: express gratitude to
Thanksgiving: expression of thanks to
God
Be thankful for even your hardships & struggles. The definition of hardship is: something hard to endure. And the definition of hard is: difficult; unyielding.
1 CORINTHIANS 13:3
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
HEBREWS 12:7-11
(7) Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? (8) If you are not disciplined - and everyone undergoes discipline - then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. (9) Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! (10) They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our own good, in order that we may share in his holiness. (11) No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Be. Be kind. Kind to others who have less, who try your nerves & patience. Be kind to the ones who are elderly, who are disabled, who chase the demons in their head we cannot see. Be kind to the ones who have been unkind in the past, because showing kindness to them may lead to them showing kindness to others.
Be. Be loving. To yourself, to your family & friends. Be loving to those who have wronged you or wronged others. Jesus says in MATTHEW 13:12, "For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him".
Dr. David Jeremiah says: "This is the great principle upon which God operates in human lives today, the master key to our spiritual growth. This principle is so fundamental that it applies to other things besides spiritual truth". He then tells a story of having to wear a cast for almost two years. Once the cast was removed he discovered the muscles had wasted down from lack of use & So he had to work at gaining strength back into them. He says, "Everything that is not used is ultimately lost".
Also from Dr. David Jeremiah: "Jesus was giving His disciples a principle: those who have responded to what they have been given will get more & continue to grow. But those who have not responded to what they have been given will find what they have decreasing until it is removed altogether. Lack of revelation from God is due to lack of willingness to receive it.
From Dr. David Jeremiah's Morning & Evening Devotions:
HEBREWS 12:14-15
(14) Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness No one will see the Lord. (15) See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
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