How to Feel Thanksgiving
Every morning when I get up, I have aches and pains. My hips hurt when I walk, my shoulders hurt when I lift my arms to put on my clothes, my knees hurt when I stoop to put on my shoes…yes, arthritis is alive and well in my body.
And that is just the physical stuff. Ever go into a room for something and when you get there forget what that something is? Yep…mentally I guess I’m aging, too.
My point? It’s hard to live in a mindset of thankfulness when we are struggling with physical and mental challenges.
But I want to spin this a different way. I do not want to talk about how to show thanksgiving in our lives.
For a change, let’s find ways to feel thanksgiving. Really feel it in our hearts and recall those things that bring us such thankfulness.
How to Feel Thanksgiving
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!”
Psalm 100:4
Most of us are familiar with this verse. We have heard it since we were children. Have you ever thought about what it’s really saying? To me it’s calling us to remember and to rejoice.
You see, thanksgiving is not a holiday. It is a state of the heart and a way of life.
No matter the aches and pains. No matter the circumstances and struggles, we are invited to enter His gates with thanksgiving. In every season of life, we are invited to approach the Lord with a grateful heart. What an incredible privilege we have to come into His presence and experience His love and grace.
When we focus on the blessings…we begin to see everything with gratitude.
We have so much to be grateful for. For instance, have you been outside today and just taken a good look at the handiwork of the Creator?
How often do we stop and think about where we would be without the love and care from our family and friends?
Then there’s Jesus…our Lord and Savior. When I reflect on His teachings as He walked this earth and His sacrifice when He took my sins to the cross, I can’t help but be overcome with thanksgiving. And He didn’t stop there. He arose from the depths of the grave to give me the gift of eternal life. How can I not praise Him? How can I not be grateful with my entire being?
“I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of
your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to
your name, O Most High.”
Psalm 9:1-2
As we choose to focus on these blessings and many more, thanksgiving should well up inside of us. And as we express this gratitude to our Lord, something wonderful happens. Our relationship with Him grows stronger.
Yes, arthritis and I coexist in this body. But so does gratitude in my heart. I look back over my life and see where God has guided me, strengthened me, blessed me and protected me.
Maybe it’s time we cultivate a mindset of continuous gratitude. No, it’s not a holiday, thanksgiving is the heart’s response to God’s love.
“I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify
your name forever.”