A Thanksgiving Lifestyle

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A Thanksgiving Lifestyle

I was talking with a friend recently about how, with all God’s blessings and all we have to be thankful for, we should be overflowing with gratitude.

Instead, we often have to “make” ourselves stop and think about thankfulness.

Oh, sometimes we’re spontaneously inspired to praise God when we see a beautiful sunset, or when someone does something unexpected for us. We love that Thanksgiving gives us an opportunity to focus on our blessings. Some even post on blogs or social media something they are grateful for every day in November.

Those are all good practices.

But what about the rest of the year? How can we overcome the distraction of everyday cares and duties to be intentionally thankful?

Here are a few ideas:

Read the Bible regularly. Not only will we see multitudes of things to be thankful for, but we’ll see examples of how people thanked God. The admonition to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” in Colossians 3:16-17 is sandwiched between verses telling us to be thankful, suggesting a connection.

Some years ago I did a Thanksgiving Bible Study that turned out to be a big blessing. Just looking up a few verses with “thanks” or “thanksgiving” in a concordance will inspire us.

The psalmists talk about their problems, confusion, and pain, but the psalms are threaded through with hope and praise. The last several psalms especially focus on praising the Lord in just about every manner possible.

Psalm 145 is one of many that shares the two main categories of things we praise God for: who He is, and what He has done. The first seven verses say:

I will extol you, my God and King,
    and bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you
    and praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
    and his greatness is unsearchable.

4 One generation shall commend your works to another,
    and shall declare your mighty acts.
5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
    and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
    and I will declare your greatness.
7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
    and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

Pray. We can ask God to open our hearts to see the ways He has blessed us and help us not to just mention them rotely, but to be truly thankful. It helps, also, to turn psalms or thanksgiving passages into prayer.

Some incorporate a regular time for giving thanks in their prayer time. Some use the acronym A.C.T.S.:

A: Adoration, praise
C: Confession of sin
T: Thanksgiving
S: Supplication, or requests

Say thank you to God immediately.We’re taught from an early age to say thank you when someone gives to us or does for us. Why not do that with God in real time all through the day?

Thank you for this good parking space!

Thank you for helping me see that unadvertised markdown on pork chops at the store.

Thank you for helping that difficult conversation go well.

What beautiful tiny flowers by the sidewalk. Thank you for creating them and putting them here for me to see. What artistry You put even in a small gathering of blooms.

We don’t have to wait untll our official prayer time to mention these things. We’d likely forget most of them then. But we can keep up a running conversation with God all through the day.

Recall blessings as you fall asleep. I used to listen to music as I fell asleep. More recently, I set my audiobook timer. But as Bing Crosby crooned in the movie White Christmas, we can “Count your blessings instead of sheep.” I don’t know if the songwriter had the psalms in mind, but David wrote, “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy” (Psalm 63:5-7).

Start a gratitude journal. Some like to keep a running record of what they are thankful for. This has two advantages. Writing them down helps reinforce them in our minds, and we’re blessed again when we later peruse our written records.

Recount your Ebenezers, In 1 Samuel 7, Samuel set up a stone to commemorate the Lord’s help, calling it an “Ebenezer,” which means “stone of help.” Some years ago I was encouraged to make a list of those special times in life when I especially saw God’s hand at work. As we tell stories of God’s faithfulness and blessings, we encourage ourselves and others.

Set times for thanksgiving. Some families make time on Thanksgiving Day for everyone to share something they are thankful about. Why not do this at intervals through the year?

Use music. Elisabeth Elliot wrote in On Asking God Why: “When I stumble out of bed in the morning, put on a robe, and go into my study, words do not spring spontaneously to my lips–other than words like, ‘Lord, here I am again to talk to you. It’s cold. I’m not feeling terribly spiritual….’ Who can go on and on like that morning after morning, and who can bear to listen to it day after day?”

She goes on to say that two things helped her. One was the book of psalms. She writes of David: “He found expression for praise far beyond my poor powers, so I use his and am lifted out of myself, up into heights of adoration, even though I’m still the same ordinary woman alone in the same little room.” The other help was hymns. She cites a few and writes, “By putting into words things on earth for which we thank him, we are training ourselves to be ever more aware of such things as we live our lives. It is easy otherwise to be oblivious of the thousand evidences of his care.”

Many hymns contain thanksgiving, but they also have phrases that could be turned into prayers of thanks.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

“Thanks to God for My Redeemer” sung by the Sacred Music Services‘ men’s chorus.

“My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness” (written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. I don’t know the folks in the video, but I like this version).

What about when we don’t really feel thankful?

Thanksgiving isn’t a feeling; it’s an action. We can give God thanks whether we feel thankful or not. Usually, once we do, the feelings come.

And usually, once we start looking for things to thank God for, it’s hard to stop.

How about you? Do any of these practices resonate with you? Do you have other ways to be intentionally thankful through the year?

Psalm 92:1-2

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

23 thoughts on “A Thanksgiving Lifestyle”

  1. I have a little card on my bathroom mirror that prompts me to pray Psalm 103:2 whenever I wash my hands: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” And then I think of one specific “benefit” to thank God for.

    We also write down thankfulnesses each week as part of our family worship on Saturdays. Every year in October, we have a “family day” where, among other things, we read through our thankfulnesses from the previous year and turn them into a craft project. We’ve written thankfulnesses on leaves and made a giant tree mural, on traced handprints and turned them into a peacock mural, and on paper strips turned into a paper chain rainbow. This year, my daughter suggested paper lanterns, so we’re writing our thankfulnesses on paper lanterns.

  2. Great thoughts here Ms. Barbara. Really enjoy your posts ma’am, especially Sunday mornings. So seldom do we think, “We praise God for who He is, not what He does for us.” It seems we’re only grateful for the blessings He gives to us and not because of all He is. He has, is, and will do for us because of His love, and not because of anything we do. Because of this, He is worthy. God’s blessings precious friend.

  4. This was a wonderful post, Barbara. I love the psalm 103 as it talks about the many benefits of the Lord. It has such a special way of stirring my heart. This song always causes my heart to be filled with gratitude >

  5. What a beautifully written post, Barbara. Thank you so much for your thoughtful way of expressing thankfulness and gratitude for the MANY MANY MANY gifts that our Father bestows upon us daily. Psalm 68:19. Reading here reminds me of the book I’ve been reading, The Grumbler’s Guide to Giving Thanks. I love the fact that the book points us more to the Giver of the gifts more so than the gift itself. But in doing that, for me at least, it helps me to appreciate the gifts even more. And one of my favorite songs is My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness, because it does the same thing…being thankful for our Saviour. May you and your family have a blessed Thanksgiving, Barbara.

    • That’s so true–gifts from loved ones mean so much because of the gift as well as the love and thoughtfulness of the one who gave them. I used to think that we should focus more on who God is, not what He has done–until I began to notice in the Psalms how often the authors praise God for His deeds and encourage people to tell others what He has done. His blessings and actions are revelations of His character. We do need to look beyond the gift to the Giver, but the better we know Him, the more we appreciate His gifts as expressions of His goodness and love.

  6. Wonderful suggestions for keeping a thankful heart! Bible study and prayer help me the most, as I recognize God’s characteristics–creator, redeemer, faithful, just, holy, righteous, holy, forgiving, loving. It also helps to keep a record of all the answered prayers. SSPS #50

  7. I love this! Over the past few years I’ve used many of these strategies to try to cultivate a more grateful, see-the-positive attitude. As an introvert who lives a lot in my head, I recognized the importance of this. It really does become a habit! I think absolutely there’s a connection between gratitude and spending time in God’s word. Thanks too for the beautiful music you shared.

    • I’m not naturally a “look on the bright side” person, either. But God is helping me see His hand at work even when things aren’t going the way I had hoped.

  8. A wonderful post, Barbara. We’ve been going through the decalogue and the antidote for the last (thou shalt not covet) has been a heart of gratitude. The second link you posted is a favorite song too. Was just putting together a Thanksgiving playlist and had just added it.

  9. Use music. Elisabeth Elliot wrote in On Asking God Why: “When I stumble out of bed in the morning, put on a robe, and go into my study, words do not spring spontaneously to my lips–other than words like, ‘Lord, here I am again to talk to you. It’s cold. I’m not feeling terribly spiritual….’ Who can go on and on like that morning after morning, and who can bear to listen to it day after day?”

    This helps me to keep saying the routine to the Lord and find help in His word! Happy Thanksgiving!!

  10. I’ve never heard that song “My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness” before. It brought tears to my eyes. I have made a prayer binder to help with my prayer time and a section of it is for things I am grateful for. I too have to stop and think about what I am thankful for. It’s a lifestyle, being thankful.

  13. Recall blessings as you fall asleep, what a wonderful habit to form! Thank you for sharing with SSPS!

  14. Reading the Bible regularly renews my mind and washes away bad attitudes. These are great tips.

  15. Congratulations Barbara, your post will be featured at SSPS 288 as one of the top 5 most viewed posts on Monday. See you there.

  16. Pingback: November Reflections | Stray Thoughts

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