Remember to be Thankful

11/14/2016

We are about half way through November, a week-and-a-half away from Thanksgiving and only 39 days away from Christmas.

Now that the Halloween decorations are out of the way, those few stores that didn't already have Christmas decorations up are now in Christmas overdrive.

Black Friday ads have been "leaked" for weeks.

I will have to admit...I love Christmas.

I am having a really hard time not letting myself "get it the Christmas mood." Once I start it is hard for me to stop.

I do have almost half of my shopping done, but I am one that shops all year round. The mailman and UPS drivers are frequent visitors around here. If it can't be ordered online, you won't be getting it from me. If I wait until after Thanksgiving to start my Christmas shopping, my life is consumed with the holiday rush and I don't have the time to savor the holiday and do the things that are really important to me.

But what about that day we call Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving was started as a time to give thanks to God for what we have and what He had done. The Pilgrims had so much to be thankful for. Most importantly, they were alive. They had lived through a horrendous winter of starvation and sickness. They had not only survived but had learned to flourish in their new home.

The Pilgrims came from a time of nothing to a time of plenty.

Thanksgiving can be difficult for us to truly grasp because most of us have never come from that place of nothing. We live in a wonderful and prosperous country. Even those that have very little still have more than most of this world. It is so easy for us to become complacent with all the worldly possessions that we have and forget how truly blessed we are. We live in a world that just about anything we want is at our fingertips.

I know that I have never had a day that I wonder where my next meal will come from. I have never had to sit by the bed of a dying child. I have never had to worry about freezing to death in my own home.

If you think about the Pilgrims celebrating the first Thanksgiving and what they were really celebrating, it makes all of our discontentments and grumblings pale in comparison to the struggles that they faced.

I may not have any wood in my basement to heat with this winter, but I know that wood is just up the road a few miles. I know that if I can't get that wood cut, I have a working furnace and a tank full of propane to heat my home.

I may not have the nicest and newest car, but it runs and I don't worry that it is going to leave me stranded.

I may not have the perfect job, but I get a paycheck every week.

My medical insurance rates may be going up next year, but I know that my family will be cared for if we need to see a doctor or go to the hospital.

I may have a kid that is growing like a weed and outgrowing his clothes daily, but we have a whole box full of hand-me-downs waiting for him to grow into.

I may have days that I just wish my kids would quit fighting and leave me alone, but I have never had to fear that someone is going to come into my home and steal them away to fight in a terrorist army. I have never had to fear that a bomb will explode while I am shopping for groceries.

Not only do we have our daily needs met, but we are so fortunate to be able to live our dream. We live on a farm and get to spend our time working and showing our cows. We get to spend each day doing what we love.

If you are thankful for everything, then whatever you have is enough.
-Author Unknown

Be thankful for what you have. Your life, no matter how bad you think it is, is someone else's fairy tale.
-Wale Ayeni-

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunites into blessings.
-Willam Arthur Ward-

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?"
-William A. Ward-

It is not happy people who are thankful. It is thankful people who are happy.

Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.
-Oprah Winfrey-

For what I have received may the Lord make me truly grateful. And more truly for what I have not received.
-Storm Jameson-

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed that the million who will not survive the week.

If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75 percent of the world.

If you have money in the bank or in your wallet, you are among the top 80 percent of the worlds wealthy.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.
-Author Unkown-

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.
-Vice President Dick Cheney-

I already won the lottery. I was born in America and know the Lord.
-Ben Carson-

Take a moment to look around you.

What do you not have?

Will that thing really make you happy?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines thanksgiving as a prayer that expresses thanks to God.

Even on our really bad days, our days aren't really that bad.

Every day that you turn on the news, there are faces of those that are homeless and hopeless. They have lost everything, including those that they love.

This Thanksgiving, as we are seated around a table overflowing with food, may we count our blessings and give thanks to God for all that he has done.

This is Us - our life, our story, our farm