So I am a Facebook junkie. I am not ashamed to admit it. There are many times I want to delete it and say 'heck with it' but I just can't bring myself to do it.
With it being the month of November, as soon as the first hit, people were posting the "I'm thankful for...." for each day of the month. I get this, I really do, but it is obnoxious and rather hypocritical if I can use that choice of words.
If I am your friend on Facebook, chances are I have went through all your pictures, read all your posts (no, I am not a skimmer - I actually read them) and I remember what you choose to let the Facebook world know about your life. With that being said, you take one month - 30 days - to say what you are thankful for and the remainder 11 months to complain. Yup, I said it.
I read how you hate your life, how life is unfair, how the world is against you...how you are tired, sore, achy, cranky, angry, bitter, sad, depressed, upset, melancholy, alone, fatigued and just blah. I posted a quote by Robert C. Lintner that reads - "Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a day." How true those statements are and I think we forget.
Abraham Lincoln declared the third Thursday in November to be the day of Thanksgiving - many years after the first Thanksgiving was actually celebrated by the Pilgrims. They came over on the Mayflower and now all the little kids make the cute little Pilgrim hats to wear. However, when the colonist arrived, they did not expect the harsh winter and many died. Therefore, the following spring they began to rebuild, learn from their mistakes and plant crops. Then in the fall, they harvested and invited some of the Native Americans to feast for three days on their harvest, fowl (not just turkey) and deer.
Back to Lincoln.....he proclaimed Thanksgiving during the Civil War. America's bloodiest war, brother against brother and yet Lincoln made the proclamation to declare Thanksgiving. Why? Was it to eat turkey, get with family or watch football? No, he clearly stated in the proclamation that Thanksgiving was meant to be a day set aside to thank God for all He has provided. He continues to say that even though the war was going on and it was a bad time for many, they still had something to be thankful for.
There is your little history lesson.
You're welcome.
Now, don't get me wrong! I don't think posting the monthly thanksgiving is necessarily a BAD thing. However, shouldn't we be thankful year round? I know that the holiday coming up makes us aware of our gratitude but we really do need to be aware of it daily.
The Creator of the universe....the Almighty who tells the ocean how far to go....the Jehovah that leads the deer to water....the Lord that placed each and every star in the sky....the God that created the entire universe in 6 days and destroyed the earth in 40.....wakes us up every morning, loves us unconditionally, forgives our most unspeakable transgressions, hears us when we pray, weeps with us when we cry. If He never did another single thing for me, I would still offer up thanksgiving and praise.
King David says, in Psalms, that we should extol thanksgiving and praise to God. Extol means with EXTREME adoration and to praise highly - with excitement! If anyone was bi-polar, it was David. One minute he was on cloud nine, praising God and glorifying him and in the next he was wishing death and wondering why God had left him. Don't we all do that at times? But in the midst of it all ...... David still gave God praise and thanksgiving. Why?
Because He is deserving of it.
As simple as that.
So, perhaps instead of one month of thanksgiving - grab a journal (am a huge advocate of journaling) or a calender and write one thing you are thankful for that day--- every day. It is hard to stay angry or bitter when you can look back on the months and see how truly blessed you are.
I was going to end this with a few things I am thankful for year round. However, once I started typing, I realized that this would be one HUGE blog because I could go on and on. I am blessed and even though I get in a rut where life is beating me down and I feel so alone, that fact never evades me.
In the words of King David -
"Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.
The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care."
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of love, laughter, great food and an even greater heart full of warmth and good cheer.
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