Giving My Thanks (To God!)

Two things came across my Facebook recently that have me thinking much about this season and, really, all year long, what we are thankful for, Who we are thankful to and why we are thankful.

First: I thought this was a ponder-worthy saying - "What if we only had what we thank God for?"

Wow.

I am thankful to God for everything, but I don't think that I have "thanked" Him in my heart as I should. I mean, I say all the time, "Thank God," but I say it and move on. Once I heard that question though, I had to really stop and think hard about all my blessings. I woke up this morning, I didn't have anything major go wrong with my health, my family is safe and warm in their various homes, and whatever struggles we are dealing with, we are struggling and not defeated. So, yeah, there is much to be thankful for & I don't pay as much attention to my blessings as I have been to my struggles. Forgive me, Lord. And thank You!

Second: a woman I know from Twitter and Facebook mentioned that, to her, Thanksgiving is not a "religious" holiday but a "sacred" one. Well, my faith is not religious either. My God is holy. Thanksgiving is not just about being thankful. Thanksgiving is, to me, more about Who I am thanking. I am thanking a holy God. I am not just "celebrating" a joy that is born of nothing or no one. I am being reminded of my blessings AND from where (or, rather, from Who) those blessings have come. God.

(Let me stop and say here that I hope that my lovely friend will come to know the God I serve and trust in!)

I am certainly thankful for friends and family and health and joy, but I am thankful to God.

For my 'Net friend, maybe she is just thankful to a god or fate or ... I don't know. That's fine for her. But for me, I have to know Who I am relying on, not just for this Thanksgiving day, but for every breath and every joy and every trial and hope and moment in my life.

So, thank You, God. Thank you for every blessing - the ones I recognize as blessings and the ones I haven't yet understood. You have put people in my life for a reason. You let me suffer through trials for reasons I don't understand here in this life. You have let me cry tears for a reason. You have given me laughter and pieces of joy that sustain me. Everything for a reason or reasons that You understand even though I may not. And when I get to Heaven, You will multiply those joys and wipe away the tears. Thank You, Father. Thank You. I am giving my thanks to You.

Peace
--Free

Psalm 27:1