Thankful...

Thanksgiving is just a few days away.  The trend of saying something you are thankful for each day is spreading like wildfire on Facebook.  Today at church we had the opportunity to jot something down on a leaf and decorate barren trees.  I love this!

Last year about this time I found members of our family (myself included) entering the holiday season with the "I want" attitude.  I decided this had to be nipped in the bud immediately.  I bought a large piece of tag board and hung it in our dinning room.  Each night we began going around the table and saying something we were thankful for that day and then writing it down.

We made it to Christmas and I thought...

WHAT IF WE WERE THANKFUL ALL YEAR?

So we kept at it.  We're on our third piece of tag board now. We keep them all hung in a place we can see them and it's great to reflect on.  That awesome sunrise...that great run...God's provision...playing with a friend...cheese.  They're all on there.

But what about when it's hard to be thankful?

There are bad days.  Days that even though I have a roof over my head, clothes on my body and food in my belly the last thing I want to do is be thankful.  Days when everything that could go wrong, did.  Days when the kids refuse to nap and instead cry and whine and yell and pout.  Days when I misinterpret what my husband is saying to me.  Days when I'm just mad.  What then?

Then I praise. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Psalm 150:6

Sometimes its singing.  Sometimes it's finding a quiet moment to sit with God. Sometimes it's reading a bible story to my kids before tucking them in.  Sometimes it's just being thankful that tomorrow is a new day.  The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great in his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. Lamentations 3:22 & 23.