November is the month that we set aside to think about Thanksgiving. We remember from our history books the stories about the first Thanksgiving and how grateful the pilgrims were that God had brought them through the hardships to a new country and a new life.
     As we think about being thankful, it might serve us well to look back at the hardships the Lord had brought us through. Being thankful for our blessings should be the easy part but we also have to be thankful for the not so easy journeys that have brought a newness to our lives.
     Why do we even need to set aside a time to focus on being thankful? Because most of the time we are not or if we are it never gets from our heart, into our mouth and to God’s ear.
     We teach our children to say “Thank You,” for gifts, compliments and nice gestures because we don’t want them to be selfish and bratty. Have you ever seen a child, receive a gift and not say thank you before they are looking for the next one or say something like, “I wanted the red one, not the blue one?”
     We do the same thing. God blesses us, and we start looking for the next blessing or we complain that the blessing is not exactly as we wanted or when we wanted it. How bratty we must look to our Heavenly Father. But he continues to love us and bless us.
     TV homemaker, Martha Stewart’s uses her catchphrase “It’s a good thing,” when she shares a product or idea that she feel will benefit the viewer. The Bible tells us, “It is a good thing to give thanks.” Doesn’t the word good just sound good? It sounds like someone else coined the phrase “It’s a good thing,” before Martha Stewart was ever born.
     Let’s take some time and reflect on areas where we have been ungrateful and bratty. Turn it around, do the good thing and be grateful.

“It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord.” Psalm 92:1 (KJV) Sue