November rolled around and immediately all thoughts turned towards Thanksgiving. We all love it. It is my son’s favorite holiday even more so than Christmas. Always has been. What can I say other than, the boy has always loved sausage stuffing!!
But with this new month, I noticed that everyone was posting their gratitude. Hashtags abound with tweets on thankfulness. At first, I thought it was a lovely idea. I began wishing I had thought to do something similar myself. But as the month has continued, I have found myself wondering ….. What happens the other 11 months? Are we equally as thankful?
Thankfulness comes from contentment ….
- Paul stated, “I rejoice greatly in the Lord” (Philippians 4:10). It was in rejoicing in His God that he found that he was content in whatever situation he faced. Whether he was fed or hungry, living in plenty or want, he had found the secret to being thankful. He rejoiced in His Lord.
- David, a shepherd boy, acknowledged that his “cup overflows with blessings” (Psalm 23:5, NLT). He was filled with gratitude because he had discovered, “The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.” (Psalm 23:1, NLT).
- The writer of Hebrews exhorts us, “…be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you; I will never abandon you.” (Hebrews 13:5, NLT)
Seems that contentment and gratitude go hand in hand. One seems to fit inside the other. Maybe instead of wanting one more thing, I need to just become content with what I already have. I read this recently (sorry, red faced here, I cannot quote the source):
Contentment comes not from great wealth but from few wants.
Funny to me that in the middle of a month of thankfulness, Black Friday kicks in and we all scramble to hit the malls to get “our wants”. “What do you want for Christmas?”, is the question we will all be asking. See what I mean?
I am all in for Christmas, don’t get me wrong. I will be buying gifts for those I love. And those gifts may include some of their needs and hopefully some of their wants, to their delight. But I truly hope the month of thanksgiving and gratitude carry over into the month of December. For it is as I remember the birth of my Savior – remembering it is in and through Him that all my needs are met – that my heart is filled with gratitude all year long.
Today I am joining …. Hear It, Use It and Sharing His Beauty and Inspire Me Mon. and Motivation Mon. and Mommy Mon. and Making Your Home Sing and Living Proverbs 31 and Mom’s Mon. Mingle and Mon. Musings and The Modest Mom and Playdates With God and Miscellany Mon. .
Joanne, I am one of those who started posting things I was thankful for on my facebook page. I know what you mean when you asked the question about what are we doing the other 11 months…but I will say that doing this has helped me to really ponder and search my heart for things I am truly thankful for. If you are like me, our days get busy and by the end, I may have actually forgotten to be outwardly thankful for anything, By making a point to do this everyday, I was hoping to start a new habit and i have to tell you, some days it has been hard to come up with something specific…not just something generic. As far as Black Friday goes…well, let me tell you, I have grown to almost despise that day and what it has come to mean to some people. I think it must make the Lord very sad to see some of his people act so ridiculous over buying gifts to celebrate His Son’s birth.
Like so many other things, we need to be mindful of why we are really doing what we do. I appreciate your post!
Blessings,
Debby
Debby –
I so appreciate what you have shared. I was never in any way criticizing or doubting that the thanks was genuine in those posting or using hashtags. Just that it caused me to think about the rest of the year. My desire is for MYSELF to be content & grateful all year long. Sorry if it was not written in a more clear way as to express my thoughts. Thank you for sharing your thoughts here with me!
Blessings,
Joanne
I’ve been doing a series called A Season of Thanksgiving on my blog for over a month now for precisely this reason! I feel like our one measly day (or even month) of Thanksgiving is getting eroded by the “gimme” holidays of Halloween and Christmas (Black Friday being a major culprit!) I’d love for you to pop over if you get a chance. There are some free printable Bible verses for Thanksgiving as well. Here’s the updated index: http://mommynificent.com/2013/10/12/thanksgiving-season/
Blessings,
Tina
Thank you for sharing this resource here. Like was said above, it takes a retraining or the development of a new habit 🙂 As we are intentional, we can develop lifestyles of Thanksgiving!
Joanne,
Thanks for the reminder that gratitude should be a year round pursuit. I often catch myself worrying about things I would like to have for our home rather than being thankful for the wonderful things we already have or even for the fact that we have a home. I recently wrote on my own blog about teaching children to have an attitude of gratitude and though some of the activities are centered around this time of year, there are many things we can all do year round to put the focus more on what we have and being thankful and content.
Elizabeth
Elizabeth – Thank you for sharing with me here. How very true that we can carry over our activities throughout the year. I am beginning to realize that it is a lifestyle of gratitude that we want to develop & not just a season of thanks. Hope to see you tomorrow 🙂
Joanne
Really love this! You’re spot on about carrying that gratitude and contentment in EVERY month! Maybe you could start a movement to that effect! Blessings, Shelly <3
I love this. Like your son Thanksgiving is also my favorite holiday. I give thanks for my family every single day and it’s great to have a day where we all acknowledge our gratitude.
Julie – A grateful heart starts with the little things….just like thanking Him for our families. So very true! Thank you for adding that thought.
So true! We should keep this this perspective all year round. I want to find a way to help my toddler remember and understand this even in the midst of presents and toys and commercials everywhere.
Deanna – I am realizing that as we are intentional in this, it can happen!