{Thanksgiving}

  Thanksgiving:noun1 the expression of gratitude, esp. to God : he offered prayers in thanksgiving for his safe arrival | he described the service as a thanksgiving.

       In church today, our pastor was talking about... Thanksgiving. He was talking about how we- as humans, tend to take an outlook on things with a negative attitude. It got me thinking... we do! In our bible study on Tuesdays we were talking about how we need to give thanks and praise to God. He enjoys hearing our praises to Him. Ok, check it ... if you did something for your child or a friend, and they just came to you with a full heart and so much gratitude, you would most likely do more for them! Correct? Because we enjoy hearing thanks and gratitude from others. So what makes you think God doesn't? More as He wants us to praise Him because if we don't, we will start praising others, and other things. Yeah, He enjoys knowing we are thankful to and for Him, But most of all, He wants us to stay following Him. 

     I was talking to a friend about just this, he tends to have a negative attitude, and finds all that bad things he goes through. I had to explain to him that if you look hard enough, you WILL find something good! A guy I look up to in our church once told me when I was having a hard day that "something good will always come out of something bad... just have to look hard enough and trust God", and its true. So I told my friend that if he really looked he could find something, even if it was he got to eat today, or he woke up! The little things count! I suggested that he write down every. single. day. one good thing he finds. So I left it at that, and checked up on him a few days later. I asked him what he found, and he answered with "nothing". I kind of had expected that answer coming from him. It frustrated me that he didn't even try. He had a bad day, I'll give him that, but "its when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence" - C.S. Lewis. So I was a little hard on my friend, but he needed to understand that even the very little things count. I told him that he woke up this morning. He's alive. So that was one. 

     My pastor was telling us today that if we are more thankful and positive, we have less chance of being depressed, were happier, were more likely to give instead of take. Do you count yourself as a thankful person? Or do you call yourself a grumpy person and a 'grinch' per-say? How do you want people to look at you? If you hang around a person who is ungrateful and grumpy... I'm positive you wont be hanging around him very long. What if that person was you? Think about how you want people to think about you. Your attitude. Our pastor had all of us put a pebble in our pocket... the meaning? Well the rock represents being thankful and grateful. When you put hands in your pocket and feel that little pebble, you will remember to be thankful. The instant you feel that pebble, think of something your thankful, go tell a friend or family member how much they mean to you. Carry that pebble around with you for two months... everywhere you go... and after the two months are up, pull back and take a look at your attitude and see how it changed; and how much more thankful you are!

I challenge you to take the pebble and change your attitude! AND write down every day, at least one thing that was good and your thankful for. Even if its the little things....