November 2008

"Thanksgiving is Arbitrary "

Do you think of Thanksgiving Day as an event? Do you see it as a day of obligation to find something to be thankful for (after all everyone else is doing it)? Since Thanksgiving day gets a spot on the calendar, that may fool us into thinking that thanksgiving in an event. There it is - the day to give thanks.

But Thanksgiving Day has not a set date. It is always the fouth Thursday of November. This year that date happens to be the 27th. Next year the date will be different. And Thursday? There seems to be nothing especially significant about that day of the week. I have never heard anyone say "Thank God It's Thursday!"

Thanksgiving Day is rather arbitrary. Maybe we can see the arbitrariness as a reminder to say "Thank You God" on a daily basis sfor all that He blesses us with every day! .

Henry ward Beecher captures the activity of the thankful heart in the following: "If one should give me a dish of sand and tell me there were particles of iron in it, I might look for them with my eyes and search for them with my clumsy fingers and be unable to detect them; but let me take a magnet and sweep through it and now would it draw to itself the almost invisible particles by the mere power of attraction. The unthankful heart, like my fingers in the sand, discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find in every hour, some heavenly blessings. Only the iron in god's sand is gold!" .

Take a moment now to thank God for His gold in your life. Of course I don't know what day you will read this, or what time you will be reading it. It is arbitrary.

Enjoy giving thanks in Christ,

Pastor John

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