Learning to be thankful !

During the past few weeks, our church has been doing an activity together called "21 Days of Thanksgiving." It's basically a large chart with categories like: salvation, church, people, nature, material/physical blessings, etc. Each day we take time to fill it out and many people from our congregation have also been posting what their thankful for on an impromptu website: www.thanksgivingdare.com .

Although I really enjoyed the activity, sometimes it was difficult for me to fill out the chart. I couldn't think of what to put down. This really bothered me because I realized that, when it comes to being thankful, I have a lot to learn. It seems strange to say that one can learn to be thankful but this activity has been showing me that learning to notice and be thankful for all God's blessings is a discipline that I can and should cultivate. That being said, I have my work cut out for me. Without realizing it, I've grown up always having a sense of entitlement towards everything-- especially physical comfort. Self-entitlement naturally leads to ingratitude and together these two "gratitude killers" manage to cast everything in a negative light.

On a message about being thankful, our pastor pointed out that, for a Christian, being thankful isn't some kind of virtue-- it should be the natural response to the reality of God's grace. I mean, how could a hopeless, helpless, addicted and selfish sinner like myself respond to Jesus' payment on the cross for my sins and the new life he's purchased for me? With humble and awe-struck gratitude, that's how! Being thankful isn't going above and beyond, it's the least I can do.

This Thanksgiving, it has been such a blessing to go through my daily routine with this attitude of gratitude (kinda catchy huh?). I thank the Lord for all he has done in my life and all the people he has so richly blessed me with. I'm eager to continue learning how to be thankful by noticing and thanking God for his provision everyday!