Thanksgiving

Turkey, football, and family about sums up what this holiday has become for most of us.  It is a great opportunity to work through thankfulness and what that means for your family.  In 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 we read,

“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  

But like the nation of Israel we not only forget what God has done for us, but in a lot of cases we seem to take it for granted.  In Psalm 106:12–15 (great psalm I will let you read it for the context) we read,

“Then they believed His words; They sang His praise.  They quickly forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel, but craved intensely in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.  So He gave them their request, But sent a leanness into their soul.”  (the italics is the literal reading of the Hebrew)  

Notice how quickly Israel forgot.

May I suggest a quick exercise for this Thanksgiving?  Pass out a half sheet of paper to everyone around the table at or just before dessert.  Ask them to take a few minutes and write down all for which they are thankful.  You may need to help younger children make their lists.  Take as little or as long as you like, I would probably err on the side of shorter.  Then have everyone share their lists.  Remind all that it takes some effort to be thankful, it takes remembering what has been done.  You may want share how quickly Israel forgot what God had done and the result of that.  Then spend some time in prayer thanking God for what he has done for you as a family.

This may be a list that you can use and build on as a family to help in your times of prayer together to assist you in thankfulness.

Hey, if you do it, come back here and let us know how it worked out for you.