(Canadian) Thanksgiving - Reflections

"Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." (Psalm 106:1)

 "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." (Psalm 103:2)

Thanksgiving. One day of the year officially is a day of reflection on what we are thankful for in our lives. It is a good reminder but actually one day is not enough: Ideally, thanksgiving should not only be a holiday but a lifestyle.

We get caught up in struggles and troubles so easily and our focus starts to shift. Facebook showed me memories to look back on today and I saw a pretty negative post I wrote on this day 6 years ago, where I ranted about a trifle. Back then, I obviously had a rather pessimistic outlook on life and a tendency to focus on the negative rather than the positive. Isn’t that the general perspective we are taught? What percentage of the news we hear daily is positive? It is not that there is nothing positive happening, it is that we choose focus on the negative instead. Do not get me wrong, I am not trying to minimize the bad things we see in this world. They are real and often terrifying and overwhelming. However, as Christians we are called to bring a different message into this world. "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control" (2 Tim 1:7). We are called to be light, to bring peace and joy and hope and love and life. We are not to be conformed to this world and renew our minds according to God’s will and perspective (Rom 12:2). How can we do this? Changing our perspective to thankfulness is powerful in leading us toward a life that shines. Over the past few years my attitude has changed and I attribute this change to God’s working in my life. He has gradually changed my heart and mind and I now choose to live my life with an attitude of thankfulness. This may sound hard or even cynical when you are experiencing pain in your life. Four years ago I faced such a time and it was not easy. It was actually the hardest thing I have ever experienced. But God was faithful and carried me through and I found that even though I may not always be able to be thankful FOR everything, I can always find something I can be thankful for IN every situation. We can choose to count our blessings instead of our problems and this decision is life-changing!

I am thankful for many things. This year has been an amazing journey with God. Let me encourage you today to follow the advice Paul gave to the Philippians almost 2000 years ago:  “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Start to count your blessings - past and present - and let every day be a day of thanksgiving.