My Thanksgiving List

Word of Life – Owen Sound – Fall Colours

I love this time of year. The crisp fresh air, the warm and cool temperatures, the bountiful harvest of fruits and vegetables, the decorations for Thanksgiving, the colourful leaves on the trees… Oh, and of course, the start of a new hockey season! The Leafs are providing much excitement this year so far both on offense and defense (which isn’t good for my heart) and Matthews and Tavares are already in the running for the Rocket Richard Trophy which is good for my fantasy hockey pool! To top it off, For King & Country just released their new album, “Burn the Ships”, a week ago and the songs are fantastic! I don’t know if I can remember a time when I found an album this catchy. I like the message in a lot of the songs as well. If you haven’t checked it out already, you should! Yes, this is a great time of year!

My Thanksgiving List:

With all of the reasons I just listed above, perhaps the biggest reason I love this time of year is because of the holiday we get to celebrate together: Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving, but I have thought about the reason why. Is it the wonderful food, the beautiful decorations, the time together with family and friends, or simply the holiday itself? Or is it because it is a wonderful reminder of the vast amount of blessings for which I have to be thankful for in my life. I will be honest. I haven’t always thought about Thanksgiving in the right way. Sometimes, Thanksgiving can be about what we can get instead of being thankful for how much we have already received. Case in point, Black Friday in the United States. It falls the day after American Thanksgiving and the greed accompanying it is absolutely devastating. It completely disgraces and places a black shadow over the day preceding it. Here in Canada, we don’t really do well in this department either. I admit that my thinking has not always been in the right direction involving Thanksgiving. Of course, we have reason to be and should be thankful every day of the year, but Thanksgiving definitely provides a good reminder of intentionally considering our blessings. I am glad to be doing this post because it is helping me to realize the many things and people for which I am extremely thankful. Because of this, I have decided to create a list of thanks involving some of these things and people. I have included this list below. I encourage you, as you read this list, think about the people, things, and areas of your life for which you are truly thankful. Perhaps, you might want to make a list of your own.

1) God

First and foremost, I am thankful for God and His perfect loving, gracious, merciful, and just nature. I am thankful that the Creator of the universe wants a personal relationship with me. What a blessing it is that God has chosen me as His child and I can come to Him anytime in prayer and talk to Him. Also, I am thankful for the amazing privilege and opportunity I have each day to get up, serve God, and bring glory to His name!

2) Salvation

Jesus has died on the cross and paid for my sin bridging the way for an eternal relationship with a perfect and holy God. It is a free gift! There is nothing I can do to earn it. All I need to do is believe and accept it, and by God’s grace I have been saved. Think about it. Even if you have nothing else going for you in your life, if you have accepted Jesus as your Saviour, you are destined to spend eternity in a joyous, loving, perfect relationship with God. It is enough reason to be eternally grateful and thankful. May we never lose perspective of this wonderful truth.

3) Family

I love my family and am thankful for each member.

Dad – Thank you for all of your hard work and the way you have provided for us as a family. Your desire to grow in your faith is also wonderful.

Mom – Thank you for the time you have invested in each one of us as children both with academic learning and spiritually as well. Likewise, your desire to grow spiritually is inspiring.

My Siblings – David, Amy, Alicia, Andrew, Hannah, Heidi, Jen, Matt – Thank you for the great bunch that you are. All the fun and laughs that we enjoy in company with each other is amazing. I am very thankful for each one of you.

4) Friends

I am very thankful for all of the friends in my life. In particular, I was blessed during my year at Word of Life as a student with many different friends with different quirks and personalities. For me personally, I loved getting to know these people and see their character and integrity shine through. Everyone unique, but everyone made in the image of God. This is what makes each person special. I love you guys and cherish each one of these friendships. Just know that you all mean a lot to me and I am thankful for each one of you!

5) Word of Life

I am very thankful for the role that Word of Life has played in my life. I was extremely blessed in my time here as a student last year. Thank you to all of the staff and people here that have made a tremendous impact on my life through many different settings and ministries . Thank you also to Pastor Dan for telling me about this place and bringing me up here to see it for myself in the first place! I am also thankful for the role that God has placed me in this year and my desire is to honour and glorify His Name through all that I do here at Word of Life this year.

Final Thoughts:

There are many more areas of my life that I am thankful for as well, but I wanted to include some of the most important ones in my life.

In closing, discontentment leads to a poor attitude, while thanksgiving leads to a joyful attitude. The cool fact is that we don’t need to have a lot to be thankful. Being thankful is a choice and we can be thankful in everything. That leads to the Bible verse for this week.

Bible Verse:

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”                                      – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

God’s will is that we give thanks in everything. It’s not determined by our circumstances or how much or how little we have. We can be thankful. It is the right attitude and a godly attitude. Today, I choose to be thankful.

Are you thankful today? What areas of your life might be influencing whether or not you have a thankful attitude? Who or what are you thankful for today? Might you want to make a list of all your many blessings? Who could you perhaps contact today and tell them how thankful you are for them? Feel free to discuss your thoughts in the comment section below!

(My Thanksgiving meal – turkey, potatoes, beans, stuffing, applesauce, corn casserole,                                                                Caesar salad, croissants, and apple pie…  DELICIOUS!)