Storing Up My Treasures: Thankful Thoughts

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I know that most of us are in busy mode right now. Lots of cleaning, shopping, planning, and cooking going on.

However, I hope that we are taking the time while busily preparing for Thanksgiving to remember to thank God for our blessings. Not just a quick "Thanks" while we pray before eating our feasts, but a true thankful spirit.

As we all know, the degree of thankfulness that inhabits our hearts is in direct correlation to our mindset. You can find a way to be thankful about pretty much anything, if you go about it from the right direction.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Thank you Lord for the ability to procure all the groceries that we'll need to feed our family this Thanksgiving, even though it means busy stores and long lines.

2. Thank you Lord for our family. For all the disagreements, advice and rudeness that sometimes comes with them. For it means we are surrounded by our lineage and we're not spending the day alone.

3. Thank you Lord for our messes. For the dust, the dishes, the dirty bathrooms that we'll be cleaning. For we have a roof over our heads and shelter to protect us from the elements. You've blessed us with a place to call home.

4. Thank you Lord for your word. For all the analogies and hidden meaning. For it means we must earnestly seek to understand and hide it in our hearts, not just read and memorize.

5. Thank you Lord for our testimonies. For the bumpy roads and really hard trials. For all the suffering and hurting, for it makes us long to be with you in our eternal home.

6. Thank you Lord for our salvation. For the grace you extend to us and the way you court our hearts. How you allow us the decision to follow you and how you place situations in our lives to make us accept you over and over again. You make your path clear and straight, even though each of us travel a different road to get to you.