…Before your head hits the pillow… The importance of being thankful November is a month in which we think more often of being thankful. Abraham Lincoln first proclaimed two days of thanksgiving, one in August to commemorate the Battle at Gettysburg and the other in November as a day to be thankful for “general blessings.” He proclaimed the last Thursday in November to be a national day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. So now on that last Thursday of November people all over this country celebrate a day of thanksgiving. I am sad that some of those celebrating don’t really know to whom they should be thankful; “our beneficent Father who dwells in the heavens.” So in November we are reminded to be thankful, but why is being thankful so important? First of all, our God, through His Holy Word, the Bible, commands us to be thankful. Psalm 106:1 says, “Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 instructs us, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is Gods will for you in Christ Jesus.” We find more commands of giving thanks in Psalm 107:1, in Psalm 118:1 and in 1 Chronicles 16:34. When God commands something He does it for a reason. Yes, He is God and He deserves thanks but when we are thankful other things happen in our lives. Being thankful makes us more joyful and peaceful. It might also make us physically healthier. I read about a research project that was conducted on students. The first group of students was to spend 20 minutes of each day writing about the things for which they were thankful. The second group of students were to write about things that made them angry or upset. The third group was asked to write about totally random topics like the color of their shoes. So who do you suppose at the end of the experiment were the most happy. It shouldn’t surprise us that those who wrote about the things for which they were thankful were most content and happy. Not only that but those who spent time writing down things for which they were thankful were also less likely to be sick during the course of the semester. When we are thankful we have the ability to see even more blessings. When we fail to see the blessings we have a tendency to become bitter. Thankfulness and bitterness cannot coexist. We must also realize that if we do not recognize those things around us for which we are thankful, more and more of the blessings around us become invisible and the converse is also true, the more we become aware of the blessings around us the more visible other blessings become. There are also negative effects in the lack of gratitude and thankfulness. When we are not thankful we tend to complain and grumble. Those people who consistently complain and grumble often become lonely because people steer clear of people who are “downers” just as people tend to gravitate toward people who are upbeat, positive and thankful. But most importantly thankfulness honors God and refocuses our eyes and attention on God, the giver of all blessings. Being thankful to our Lord helps us to grow in our personal relationship with Him. When we give thanks we draw closer to God and He draws closer to us. Giving thanks is a decision, much like forgiveness. We might not always “feel” like giving thanks when we are going through great difficulties, but even in difficulties we can see God’s hand of mercy and be thankful for His grace. We can still be thankful to God without feeling thankful for the circumstance we are in. We can grieve and still be thankful, we can feel pain and still be thankful. So during this month of November, when we deliberately think about giving thanks, let’s begin a habit of thinking each day about those things for which we are thankful. Each day between now and Thanksgiving I am going to give our readers a topic and I want each of you to add those things for which you are thankful that fall under the purview of this topic. And as you do, remember this promise, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
Posted on: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 03:00:00 +0000
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