Thanksgiving is a wonderful reason to celebrate – a wonderful reason to come together with family and friends and remember and count all of our blessings. It saddens me to see the highly commercialized Christmas activities drowning out the Thanksgiving message each year.

Ephesians 5:19b-20 tells us to “Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (NIV)

I feel the Spirit calling on Christians/me to reflect on this verse a little longer and notice the word “always.” If we go to great extremes to be thankful, but only one day a year, perhaps we have missed the point altogether. In the earlier days of our country, thanksgiving happened naturally in November because it was the time of the harvest. Today some of us may be struggling to drum up reasons to feel thankful – whatever the reason.

Philippians 4:6 tells us to be thankful in all circumstances advising us to pray about everything that concerns us. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (NIV)

What if we resolved to nurture a spirit of thanksgiving into our lives on a daily basis? This kind of thinking could revolutionize our spirits and improve our mind-set and our testimonies to the world around us.

How might we cultivate this spirit of thanksgiving? Re-read Philippians 4:6 above. Also spend some time reading the Psalms. When we focus on who God is and how he goes with us every day of our lives, thankfulness tends to spill out.

It might also help to become deliberate about making this happen more often. What comes to my mind is a calendar to keep at your table or wherever you have your private worship time. A brief comment can be written into the space on the Thankfulness Calendar each day.

If your family is still with you, or only your spouse, you might set aside one day a week to focus together on what you are thankful for. I like the idea of a Thankful Thursday. Again, these expressions of thanksgiving can be written on a calendar, or perhaps a family Thankfulness Journal that is kept at the table where everyone’s comments can be recorded.

Focusing on everyday thanksgiving as a family also gives parents a window to teach their children how to express thankfulness as you discuss ways children can say thank you to others who have blessed them.

Sometimes our spirit of thanksgiving comes to us as a mixed bag. Perhaps we recognize the way God has blessed us through our trials. Here is a Facebook video that brings this concept out very nicely. Enjoy…

This is Shannon Abbott! We call her the Hallelujah Mommy!

Posted by 100.3 WNIC on Tuesday, September 22, 2015