3 Short Lists for Making Thanksgiving Work

A. Reasons We DON’T LIKE to Hear About It.

1. We’re having a rough day.
2. We’re having a rough five years.
3. We aren’t really awake yet.
4. We’re physically sick.
5. Some people are being stupid – or even mean or dangerous.
6. We’ve just got too much going on.
7. We’re mad at God.
8. We’re mad at somebody else.
9. We’re obsessed with what we don’t have, maybe to the point of being unwilling to consider what blessings we do have.
10. More? …

B. What is NOT Giving Thanks Like?

1. Sitting down and soaking in the feelings under “A” above.
2. Saying it without meaning it.
3. Saying it without thinking about it.
4. Actually feeling no appreciation for how we are already blessed.
5. Just being too busy – moving too hard and fast — too agitated to be calm for a few minutes and think about our blessings.
6. More? …

C. What IS Giving Thanks Like?

The word “thank” is related in history to the word “think.” Thus “Giving Thanks” has a lot to do with what we think about and how we think about it. So what is “Giving Thanks” like?

1. Being appreciatively aware of any good thing, any blessing, we can find in our lives.
2. Being appreciatively aware of any good thing, any blessing, we can find in the lives of people we care about.
3. Being glad those things are part of our world.
4. Feeling glad without saying it.
5. Feeling appreciative and praying it.
6. Feeling thankful and saying it.
7. Humbling ourselves enough to admit that we are truly blessed, even in this difficult world.
8. More? …

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See also:

• Category: Holidays, or
• Give Thanks Freely – But Not for EVERYthing!
• The Work of Christmas Begins
• Cowboy’s Christmas Prayer – Good Values,
• Remember Those in Prison
• Jesus Pushes Us to Judge Our OWN Lives – Not Other People’s
• Samaritan Lives Matter – Jesus and Racism,