I don’t know what happened to this month, but I just realized Thanksgiving is Thursday! 

I have been reflecting on thankfulness since the beginning of the month, reviewing a journal I did in 2012 where I made daily entries about what I was thankful for. I also have a reminder on my phone that asks me “what are you thankful for today?” I don’t always have time when it goes off at 10:25 a.m. to do more than just acknowledge my thanks to the Lord for what is going on in my life at that moment, but I always have something I can be thankful for. I have had that reminder on my phone for over a year now. It has been a wonderful reminder to give the Lord thanks each day.

God’s Word has a lot to say about giving thanks! Even when things are not going well, if I can take just an extra moment to reflect, there is always something that I can give thanks for. 

Adversity many times is used by the Lord to make us stronger and even more focused on what is really important. I am determined to follow His instructions to give thanks in every circumstance because He sees the bigger, overall picture. I don’t, so sometimes I can’t possibly see how “all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” But as I have stated over and over again, I trust Him. He has proven Himself faithful every single time and under all circumstances, even if I don’t see or understand until much later what He was doing through these adverse situations.

I have had the privilege of serving our community on Thanksgiving for many years as one of many volunteers for the community dinner sponsored by One Heartbeat and Community Transformation. Even with the flu/virus situation, we served over 1,200 meals last year. Most of the meals were transported by volunteers who came to pick up the meals and deliver them to those who had requested them. Other meals were picked up on location for that individual to take home for themselves and perhaps their family. 

We had volunteers from as far away as Tallahassee who gave of their time and gas to drive meals around our community. I am looking forward to doing the same thing this year. We are still trying to be cautious which means we cannot serve meals on site like we have in the past. But each one of us joyfully takes this opportunity to serve those who may not have been able to fix a nice meal for themselves due to any number of circumstances.

I went to a revival service in North Georgia this month where I saw the same spirit of love being poured out upon all of the visitors who came from many different locations to receive something from the Lord. This church has been in revival for almost four years and one of the things that has sustained it is the wonderful group of volunteers who are serving their church. The lady who was in charge of the volunteers stated that so many people wanted to serve that the rotation list was a month long! That means every volunteer (and there were many at each service) could only serve once a month because there were so many that wanted to serve! That is amazing to me when most churches can’t get enough volunteers to do the regular weekly responsibilities without using the same people over and over again. I kept saying thank you to each of the volunteers I talked to because they were modeling something that I think more closely resembles what the body of Christ should look like.

When you have a thankful heart, you want to express that thankfulness in some tangible way. Of course speaking out whether it be to the Lord or to another individual that is doing something that benefits us or humanity is the most common way of expressing our thankfulness, but acts of kindness and generosity can also bless the Lord as well as others who are the beneficiaries of our thankfulness. I have noticed that more people are doing that this month! Whether it is intentional or not, it seems more widespread this year. It is not difficult to look around and see others who are in much more challenging circumstances than I am in. I want to be an encouragement to each one I meet even if it is just a smile or a kind word, because it is the little things that people notice.

I was in the laundromat earlier this week with the young man I help take care of. He ran to the door to help a young mother get through the door with a large bundle of laundry and a small child in tow. She was very appreciative and I was blessed that he noticed and then responded! Another lady commented about how wonderful our relationship seemed to be (she asked if he was my son). I appreciated her kind words. Small tokens of people caring for one another and being thankful were demonstrated.

All of us take so much for granted. We live in a country that has been so blessed. I am hoping with all that our world has been through this past year (and are still going through to some extent) that we will each take the time to reflect on our own personal blessings as well as look for opportunities to be a blessing to others.

We “enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.” I envision that very literally! If you want to enter into the tangible presence of the Lord, keep a thankful heart. If you want to enter further in, begin to praise Him! I want to live in His presence and there is no better way than through a thankful, grateful heart!