Thanksgiving Can Change Your Life

Thanksgiving Can Change Your Life 1-20-11

1 Peter 2:12 reads, 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Psalm 118:1 says, "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever."

Philippians 4:4 reads, Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

The day before Thanksgiving an elderly man in Phoenix called his son in New York and said to him, "I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; 45 years of misery is enough. We’re sick of each other, and so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her."

Frantic, the son called his sister, who exploded on the phone. "There no way they’re getting divorced," she shouted, "I’ll take care of this." She called Phoenix immediately, and said to her father. "You are NOT getting divorced. Don’t do a single thing until I get there. I’m calling my brother back, and we’ll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don’t do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" The man hung up his phone and turned to his wife. "Okay, honey. The kids are coming for Thanksgiving and they are paying for their own flights." Thankfulness.

On Thursday we will all be gathering together with our family and hopefully we will remember to do more than eat a meal and watch whatever you like to watch on TV or make a mad dash for the mall. The Thanksgiving Holiday gives us the perfect opportunity to transform our lives from those of griping and dissatisfaction to lives of joy and gratitude. Thanksgiving is a good holiday for us to turn the corner and become grateful people. God wants nothing more than for us to be people of thanksgiving and gratitude. "A thankful spirit is one of the key distinguishing marks of a Christian. It sets us apart from the world, it makes us different." Psalm 118:1 says, "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever."

I. THE BENEFITS OF A GRATEFUL SPIRIT

Now why do you think being a thankful person is so important? Well I think it is because gratefulness is good for our spiritual health. There are a many ways being a grateful person can benefit you.

For one, being a grateful person can increase your contentment, and your ability to serve our Lord in a greater capacity. Most of us think that our happiness is determined by our circumstances. If I asked you, on a scale of one to ten how happy you are right now, you might say, "Well, I’m about a 2 on the happiness meter because of my circumstances."

A father and his son were seated at the dining room table, while the mother was finishing the final preparations on the family’s dinner. While the father and son were seated, the father asked the son if he would say the prayer for the meal. The youngster nodded his head, and said that he would pray. The mother placed the last of the meal on the table, and sat down. The boy looked around the table at the food for a moment, and began to pray. He said, "God, I’m not sure what it is. But thanks anyway. And I’ll still eat it."

We’ve been taught that our happiness is somehow dependent on how well things go for us. But really our happiness is determined by our attitude toward our circumstances. It is really in how we see things, do we have a Christian world view? That is, do we look at our world through Christian eyes? The apostle Paul wrote these words from prison. "Rejoice in the Lord always," he wrote, "and again I say it rejoice." (Philippians 4:4). Paul was able to experience joy despite being in prison and how, he learned to thank God in everything he did. It was really his perspective on life.

A young woman wrote her mother from college: "Dear Mom: Sorry I haven’t written sooner. My arm really has been broken. I broke it, and my left leg too, when I jumped from the second floor of my dormitory...when we had the fire. We were lucky. A young service station attendant saw the blaze and called the Fire Department. They were there in minutes. I was in the hospital for a few days. Paul, the service station attendant, came to see me every day. And because it was taking so long to get our dormitory livable again, He has been so nice. I must admit that I am in love. Paul and I plan to get married just as soon as he can get a divorce. I hope things are fine at home. I’m doing fine, and will write more when I get the chance. Love, Your daughter, Susie.