“Enter his gates with thanksgiving
   and his courts with praise;
   give thanks to him and praise his name.”  (Psalm 100:4)

It’s eight days until Thanksgiving; what are you thankful for?

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All too often, actually giving thanks is almost an afterthought.  After all, isn’t Thanksgiving really all about having a day off from work, eating turkey, watching football, and visiting with family and friends?  Some might say that it’s really a family day; spending quality and happy times…

When I was young, Thanksgiving was all about the Dallas Cowboys…

Is this really what Thanksgiving is for?  No! Thanksgiving is a day set aside to give thanks to God for all of His blessings in your life.  Of course this is something we should be doing all of the time.  Family, food and good times are only icing on the cake!  If you do a word search in the Bible for “thanks” you will find more hits than you can look up, because God’s people are supposed to be giving thanks all of the time… and frequently set aside special days to dedicate to thanksgiving.  I hope and pray that this year, all of us will take the effort from now on, for the next 10 days, to think about all of the ways God has blessed us.

When it’s dinner time a week from Thursday, let’s begin our meals by going around the table for each person present to mention something they are thankful for, and then let’s begin our feast with a prayer of thanksgiving.