Thankfulness All Year Long

During the month of November we try to focus on being thankful. We talk about sharing and gratitude and blessings all month long. Especially here in America, we take our Thanks-giving seriously. We plan feasts, invite family and friends over, and usually have some holiday traditions.

While it is good and right to give thanks to God for our blessings on Thanksgiving, and during the entire month of November, I think we have been missing out on something important. Because of the traditions of American Thanksgiving and the ways that we celebrate, we have too often put on our thankfulness like a holiday sweater. We see it as the “thing to do” in November, and then we take it back off and move onto something else when December 1st rolls around.

What if instead, we chose to be thankful all year long? What if we modeled thankfulness to our children? What if we stopped each and every day and thought of what we are thankful for? This is not a new concept. In the Bible we are clearly called to be thankful – to give thanks – in all circumstances. (1 Thessalonians 5:18) But I find that we rarely do it!

I am sure though, that this limited-time thankfulness issue is not just and American thing. Perhaps we struggle with it so much because we get used to having comfortable things around us and forget that the entire world does not look like or act like us. If we spent more time learning about other cultures and customs, maybe we would gather a greater understanding of how we can be thankful in all circumstances. We could learn to live more like Christ and less like the world.

The Israelites showed their thankfulness with an offering. A time and a gift to God to show their thankfulness. When was the last time you stopped and offered God a gift because you were so very thankful for what He has done for you? When was the last time a song of praise welled up out of your heart because of thankfulness?

I think this is an easy area of our lives to overlook, this focus on being thankful. We need to change that! We need to choose to look around us and realize just how blessed we are, and the praise should just flow from our lips to God because of that spirit of thankfulness that dwells within us.

It is too easy to get wrapped up in the busyness of life. We must make a conscious effort to slow down and savor the moments God has granted us.

We need to slow down enough to pause and say, “Thank you”, to the Creator who made us and who gives us life and breath. We need to instill a true attitude of gratitude in our homes. Our children will not learn to be thankful or gracious unless we as parents first take time to give thanks, to mean it, and to act graciously towards others.

So what is the first step? Pausing in prayer and asking God to open our eyes to see the blessings in our lives. Pausing in prayer and asking God to show us that He is more than enough to meet all of our needs. Pausing in prayer and asking God to give us a thankful heart. Walking out our faith by giving some of our blessings to others. Walking out our faith by choosing to trust God in all circumstances. Walking out our faith by having a no complaining rule in our homes. Choosing to do things that stretch our faith, like spending time with new people, learning about other cultures, and letting our light shine in the darkness.

If we, as parents, choose to be thankful all year long, can you imagine how that might change our homes, our families, our workplaces, our churches, our communities? Loving one another is the charge that Jesus gave to His disciples. If we choose to be thankful for the people God places in our lives, we will love them. If we choose to pray for the people in our lives, we will love them even more.

May we, as believers, not take off the cloak of thankfulness when November ends. Rather, may we allow God to work in our hearts this month, to turn our skepticism, our self-centeredness, and our apathy into something much better. May thankfulness no longer be something we do, but instead, may thankfulness become an integral part of who we are … all year long

Carol and her husband Kurt are in their 15th year of home education. With one graduate and one high school senior, Carol writes with a practical look at the whole journey of home education. Focusing on experienced based education and frugal ways to teach and learn well, Carol offers encouragement that anyone, even working moms, can homeschool successfully. Carol writes for her local newspaper, the TOS Homeschool Review Crew, and reviews books for several Christian Publishers. You can find her love of nature, field trips, and lifelong learning on her blog: Home Sweet Life.