Often people talk about being thankful at church, and at the dinner table with their family, and sometimes they even mention it at work. However, I got to thinking about this. While I enjoy Thanksgiving and it drives me bonkers that people skip over it and just go right to Christmas because they are so greedy, instead of thinking about what they are thankful for they just think about what they want, sometimes I think we lose sight of what being thankful is about.
Are you really thankful for something if you only think about it one day a year? Even one month a year?
If you are really thankful for something you should be thankful for it all the time. How often do you say 'Thanks' in your prayers? Even more, how often do you say 'Thanks' compared to how many things you ask for? I bet for the majority of us the ratio is way off. We might say 'Thanks Lord' for 1 thing and then go on and ask for ten things.
How thankful are we being when all we can think about is what we want?
If you are asking God for a new car every day are you really thankful for the car you have? How many times did you ask for the new car? How many times were you grateful for the car you have? What about a new house? A new television? A new computer? More food? Better food? You might be in college and eating Ramen, but hey, at least you are eating something. You might live in a tiny apartment without a garage for your car, but at least you have a roof over your head.
I just think that maybe, just maybe, if people were more grateful every day for what they have, they would stop being so greedy all the time. Maybe they would also be happier. God has blessed so many of us in so many ways, and oftentimes all we can do is complain about what we don't have. If you gave someone a present and they just turned around and asked for something else and quickly forgot about what they had been given, how eager would you be to give them a new present? Probably not very eager. Probably not eager at all. I sometimes wonder if that's how God feels with His greedy little children. He loves us and wants to bless us but I believe He also wants us to appreciate what we have.
