a life of thankfulness

November is my favorite month, and not just because of my birthday.  During November, the leaves are in their best color changing stage, the weather is usually cool and crisp (but not

 too cold yet), and football is in full swing. Thanksgiving brings us deliciousness, and everyone is focused on being thankful.  

On Facebook, many people share a different thing they are thankful for each day, and it's wonderful to see so many people sharing their hearts and life.  In classrooms, kids write thankful papers. At home, you share what you are thankful for. In children's church, we are focusing on thankfulness lessons and sharing verses that talk about the same thing.  This focus, in my eyes, is a wonderful reminder, but so often it is only a focus this one month of the year.

I have come to realize that thanksgiving is not only a season, but it's a life need.  It is a tremendous need in the hearts, souls, and minds of us all.  When we are told to preach the gospel to ourselves daily, being thankful is the root of that. We are thankful that He did what we couldn't do in living perfectly, and we are thankful that He did what we were supposed to do in dying for our sin.  We are thankful that each day we do not have to live life alone with our own power, but instead through the power of the Holy Spirit. Just knowing this should be enough to keep a thankful heart. But God never does "just enough" in the everyday of our lives. He also gives us constant reminders in the form of big things, little things, seemingly normal things, good things, and even difficult things, because of His love for us.  These are the things we should be oh so thankful for.

A few years ago, a friend shared a book with me called 1000 gifts, that talks about the very things found in 1 Thessalonians 5, Ephesians 5, Colossians 3, Psalm 138, and so so so many other places.  Being thankful in ALL circumstances, in EVERYTHING.  This book changed the way I look at circumstances, and I have shared it with others as well.  I have been given so much, and in everything there is something to be thankful for. At the top of that list is my Heavenly Father sending down his son to be my Lord and Savior who died, rose, went back to Heaven and sent His Spirit to walk me through my life. 

I am so thankful that I can rest in the fact that I'm an imperfect woman, married to an imperfect man, raising imperfect children, living in community with imperfect friends, and members of an imperfect church, covered with the PERFECT love of Christ.  

Thankfulness abounding!