Wednesday, November 26, 2008 - Overflowing With Thankfulness
Has anyone ever said to you, "You are just overflowing with thankfulness"? Honestly, that's never happened to me and probably not you either. Yet, the Bible tells us in Colossians 2 that we should overflow with thankfulness.
I do believe this, with all my heart - if you learn to practice thankfulness, people will notice. They'll notice your joyful spirit; they'll notice your words of thanks; they'll notice the smile on your face and the bounce in your step. You look different when you overflow with thankfulness. It softens the lines in your face; makes you look younger and gives a gentleness to your words. It lightens your load so you have a spring in your walk.
You don't believe me? Well, I challenge you to practice thankfulness and see if people don't notice the difference in you. I've given you five suggestions to help you practice being thankful. Here's one more:
5. Think about where you'd be without Jesus.
That will make you thankful. There's a song I like by Stephen Curtis Chapman entitled
"Remember Your Chains." The chorus says:
Remember your chains. Remember the prison that once held you
Before the love of God broke through.
Remember the place you were without grace.
And when you see where you are now,
Remember your chains, and remember your chains are gone.
For me, nothing makes me overflow with thankfulness as much as remembering what Jesus has done in my life and hearing what he has done in the lives of others. Each year some of my close friends get together at my home on New Year's Day, and one of our traditions is to re-tell our stories - to remember our chains are gone. What a great experience that is. We always overflow with thankfulness when we remember where we were before we met Jesus.
As you prepare for Thanksgiving tomorrow, have you stopped to truly have a thankful heart? Maybe you've been so busy with all the preparations that you've forgotten the purpose - to be thankful. In fact, there are very few people in our country who will celebrate thanksgiving tomorrow. Most will celebrate a big meal, a family gathering, a football game. But not too many will be primarily focused on having a thankful heart.
Don't miss this opportunity to develop the habit of overflowing with thankfulness. It is the only way to live.
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