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Weekly Devotions

From Thanksgiving to Thanksliving-November 19, 2018

There is more to the Thanksgiving holiday than just giving thanks.

Monday Morning Devotion-November 19, 2018

 

From Thanksgiving to Thanksliving

 

But, giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me.  If you keep to my path I will reveal to you the Salvation of God.    Palm 50:23

 

     This is not a new idea nor is it a new title, yet it contains some important concepts we should remember during the Thanksgiving season and thereafter.  As I was searching for ideas for this week's devotion, it being the week in which the Thanksgiving Holiday falls, I came across this devotion that I posted eight years ago on November 22, 2010.

            I'm not just reposting the original because some of the information has changed.  This Thanksgiving will be remarkably different at our house than any of the last five or six.  TLS (the Lovely Susette) and I have been spending the previous Thanksgiving Holidays at the beach.  That's nice.  The beaches are noticeably less crowded because Thanksgiving is pretty much a family holiday. So, it is a pleasant time to be there.  Only thing missing is, uh, the family, 

            This year is different we will have family from out of town here at our house.  In fact, even if we had planned on our usual beach holiday escape that probably would not have been possible because I'm not even sure how much of the beach is still there after the devastation of Hurricane Michael passed through.  We still keep those folks who live there in our daily prayers because this recovery time is very difficult.

            Anyway in the original version of this devotion, in lengthy fashion, I described the family setting for the Thanksgiving Feast this way:  "I'll be the one who asks God's blessing on our family feast.  And once again I'm sure the blessing that I offer up will be slightly longer than the usual everyday blessings we pray before a meal.  And, I'm sure once again, while I'm praying the kids (even though they are grown now) will be listening up to a certain point, then their minds will drift back to wondering when we are going to dig into the turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, vegetable and pie."

            That won't be the case this year.  A new family member will now be saying the prayer.  Our three-year-old granddaughter, Ellee, lives with us and is our official blessing-sayer (pray-er) now.  I can predict what her blessing will be:

             "Thank you Lord for this food and all your many blessings. Amen!"  

            The amen is shouted out and followed with these instructions from Ellee:  "You only say amen, once, PaPa."

            Somehow, I think our food is equally as blessed and thanks are welcomed in heaven in Ellee's childish prayer as in my lengthier, thanks-laden one.  Repeating a thought from the first version of this devotion that still holds true: "Every prayer offered up…long ones, short ones, medium-sized one are welcomed by God.  When it comes to prayers I don't think God shows favoritism.  We can pray, comforted by the realization that God hears all prayers and He doesn't grade them.  You can't flunk Praying 101"

            But, there is no doubt about it that these prayers of thanksgiving are important.  When I first wrote this devotion God's great gift that we were thankful for was our granddaughter Quinn.  It was her first Thanksgiving.  This year she is eight years old---more to be thankful for.

            Now let's get to the meat of the subject.  "I believe that offering up heartfelt prayers of gratitude and thanks on this special day (not just at mealtime) is God-pleasing but transforming them into thanks-living is even more significant.  Talk is cheap, and our words float on out into the air and are gone in seconds.  The way they become lasting is by what we do in the coming days.  After the holiday is over.  Do we live out our thanks or do we just go along accepting God's blessings without returning any blessings of our own?"

            "In our scripture from Psalms God says that giving thanks is a "sacrifice that truly honors me."  Why would He say that?  Why is it a sacrifice to give thanks when it' s really easy to do?  It is a sacrifice because it is more than words, it is a call to action.  If we are truly thankful we will live out our thanks instead of mindlessly wording them."

            "When we change the way, we think we change the way we act and that's the first step in going from thanksgiving to thanks-living.  For this sacrifice to be made and to work we must do it voluntarily and willingly."

            In researching I found "12 Laws of Thanksgiving."    Basically these laws ask us to consider if we found ourselves feeling grateful and giving thanks all year long, what would change about our lives.  Rather than repeat all 12 laws let me just share several that stood out to me:

The Law of Lacking:  If we focus on all the things we want and don't have, we wind up feeling lacking.  Not a great state to be in.

The Law of Blessed: When we focus on all the many things we need and want that we do have, we wind up feeling blessed.  A pretty great state to be in.

The Law of Focus:  Have you ever noticed that what you consistently focus on tends to be what happens?  I've also noticed that when we focus on what we lack, we tend to get selfish, looking out only for ourselves.  On the other hand, when we focus on our blessings, it's much easier to look out for others as well as ourselves.

            Those laws say a lot.  Most of the time it is all about what we choose to focus on that determines if we are truly living out our thanks or just mouthing them because it is the proper thing to do.  The old 'gratitude attitude' is an important one to store up in our hearts.

            Joseph Addison once said: "There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude.  It is accompanied with such an inward satisfaction that the duty is sufficiently rewarded by the performance."

            As you give thanks this holiday, or any other time, remember in order for these thanks to take on a life of their own and not be cast aside with the table scraps, they must move from thanksgiving to thanks-living.

Prayer:  Lord, we are truly thankful for your bountiful blessings.  As we accept your grace and favor each day help us to translate them into thanks-living.  Amen!

 

    

    

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