Thanksgiving

Psalm 136:1-3

For automatic dishwashers. They make it possible to get out of the kitchen before the family come in for their after-dinner snacks.

For husbands who attack small repair jobs around the house. They usually make them big enough to call in professionals.

For the bathtub. The one place the family allows Mom some time to herself.

For children who put away their things and clean up after themselves. They’re such a joy you hate to see them go home to their own parents.

For gardening. It’s a relief to deal with dirt outside the house for a change.

For teenagers. They give parents an opportunity to learn a second language.

For smoke alarms. They let you know when the turkey’s done.

I. Thanksgiving should be a personal practice. Each of us should be thankful and express our thankfulness.

II. Secondly, it should be a perpetual practice. Constantly and continually, we should express our thankfulness to God.

III. Finally, it should be a purposeful practice. It is something we are going to have to do on purpose.

I have never met a backslidden thankful person.

The story is told of a man who found a barn where Satan kept his seeds ready to be sown in the human heart. He found that the seeds of discouragement were more numerous than the others, and he learned those seeds could be made to grow almost anywhere.

But when Satan was questioned, he reluctantly admitted that there was one place in which he could never get them to thrive. “And where is that?” asked the man. Satan replied, “In the heart of a thankful person.”