Here's my struggle... When we take out special time that is designated to do something we make sure we do that thing really well during that time.... BUT, it takes the emphasis off the fact that we should ALWAYS be doing that thing whether it's during that special time or not. Make sense? It's spirit day at school... we go all out painting our faces and dressing up. Shouldn't we always have school spirit though? Not just on spirit day? It's Mother's Day. We honor our mothers.... Shouldn't we always honor our mothers? Valentine's Day... We share love with those that we love. Shouldn't we always show them love? It's Thanksgiving day... We give thanks for all that we are blessed with... Shouldn't we always be giving thanks? Give thanks in all circumstances!

So... Maybe Thanksgiving's focus shouldn't be so much about sitting around a table gorging ourselves on turkey and mashed potatoes while we thank God that we aren't in the same boat as those less fortunate than us... feeling bad for then... kind of... not bad enough to really do anything about it though... or else we WOULD do something about it.
We do good... kind of... at giving thanks... But if we were really good at giving thanks, maybe we would start GIVING THANKFULLY... Thankful that we are blessed enough to be able to give. And I am not talking about just giving out of the leftovers... You know what I mean? Someone comes to the door on a can drive... so we go to the back of the pantry and find the dusty can of chicken broth that expired last year and give it away so we don't feel guilty for not giving anything... because a dusty, expired can of chicken broth makes such a good meal. Or we donate the old pair of jeans or the coat with holes in it and stains up the front... We give our leftovers... What if God would had that attitude with us? They're not worth me sending my best. They don't need my only beloved. They ought to be grateful for this old nasty can of chicken broth from the back of my pantry.... Hmmmm?
This holiday season... I want to focus on GIVING THANKFULLY rather than just giving thanks... Because the Father gave thankfully to me.
Very well written. Food for thought..... I think we all do that at different times not to hurt anyone or anything like that, we just don't think and get busy with life, which is sad because then we miss out on God's blessings for us.
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