Thankfulness

It has recently occurred to me that I have fallen out of the habit of being thankful for the blessings in my life. When we fail to acknowledge what we have been blessed with, we miss a key element in our relationship with our creator. And, after all, what else is thankfulness about but truly giving thanks to God? I'm sure just being randomly grateful to some cosmic force has some sort of therapeutic effect, but God designed us to have a relationship with Him. He is the one that brings blessings into our lives and He is the one who deserves our thanks. Giving Him the thanks He deserves brings us into a closer relationship with Him, and nothing can be more therapeutic than that! It also causes us to look beyond ourselves and our trials and realize that, no matter how bad we may feel about our circumstances, there is always something to be grateful for. Corrie ten Boom shared a story in The Hiding Place about her sister encouraging her to give thanks to God in all things, even when life seems at its darkest. Corrie's sister was encouraging her to be thankful, even for the fleas that infested the barracks where they were imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust. At the time, Corrie couldn't see past the discomfort caused by the fleas or imagine any possible good in them to be thankful for, but she heeded her sisters' wise counsel and gave thanks to God, even for the fleas in a concentration camp barracks. It wasn't until sometime later that they discovered how repulsed their guards were by those same fleas, refusing to enter the barracks because of them. The guards' refusal to enter the barracks allowed Corrie and her sister the freedom to hold prayer meetings and study the Bible with their fellow prisoners. Even in the midst of seemingly insurmountable trials, we can always find a reason to give thanks to God. All we have to do is look. And when we choose this mindset over the mindset of defeat, we can find the strength to keep moving forward. With that in mind, I intend to spend the next week or two sharing my thoughts on some of the people in my life for whom I am thankful. When considering people that we are grateful for, I think most of us would find it quite natural to begin with family, which is exactly what I plan on doing. Starting tomorrow, a celebration of the family that molded me into the person I am today! Psalm 106:1  "Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord , for he is good; his love endures forever. "