from Ron Rose
November 24, 2008

Preparation

The family gathered around the Thanksgiving table and began sharing the things they were thankful for. The youngest sat there patiently listening. Then finally it was his turn. He looked at that big old turkey on the platter by his dad and said, “I’m thankful I wasn’t born with feathers!” His words will be remembered for a lifetime.

What will it take for this year to be the best Thanksgiving ever?

In the midst of debt, recession, unemployment, the mortgage crisis, and a pervasive nationwide lack of confidence, what have we to be thankful for? Lots of things!

Thankfulness isn’t something that happens to you because you have lots of stuff and everything works; it’s something you do in spite of your stuff and the gravity of your situation. It’s a spiritual decision…a statement of faith, not just a reason for a turkey dinner. Practicing gratitude is a workout for the soul.

Over the last few days I have asked my network of friends to tell me what they are thankful for. I received nearly a hundred responses.

LB said, “I'm thankful God gives more than second chances.”

“I'm thankful that God is giving me new vision,” offered Clyde. “He is showing me more than I ever imagined or dreamed. He has allowed me to see that houses, cars, bank accounts, etc. are just things that typically get in the way of the really important things.”

“No matter where I am,” Dax responded, “I am always thankful for my family, my friends, and my God. Basically the ones that never give up on me no matter how much I screw things up.”

Theta summed up the most popular response, “I am so thankful for God's grace!”

I was blessed by all the responses and honored that so many shared their heart, but I was especially moved by Karen’s response:

“I'm thankful that God showed me a path through my pettiness. I was assigned "birthday duty" for the one person in the office that I’ve never gotten along with. The task was simple; collect the money from our co-workers, get the gift/card, and wrap it all up. I didn't want to do it. I fought against it, complained about it, and put it off as long as I could.

“I wanted to get a really mean "over the hill" card, but I didn't. I wanted to pawn the job off on someone else, but I didn't. I wanted to spend as little time as possible on her, but I didn’t. God wouldn’t let me.

“God even prompted me to get her a Starbucks card after I had used up all the collected funds.

“When we presented her with the gift cards in a tiny little purse that I was jealously saving for a really special person, she beamed and our relationship leaped to a totally new level.

“After 15 years of butting heads with her, I found God changing it all in the blink of an eye, and I was left amazed and thankful.”

Inspiration

It happened in Dallas. Tracy Orr was at the public auction to watch strangers bid on her home. She had purchased the house in 2004 for $80,000 but lost her job shortly afterwards, fell behind in the payments, and finally lost the house.

For Tracy it was a day of tears. Everyone in the room was a stranger to her, till she met Marilyn Mock. Marilyn happened to be sitting by Tracy and become a willing listener to Tracy’s story.

Before the day was over Marilyn had submitted the winning bid on Tracey’s house ($30,000) and sold it back to Tracy.

“She didn't even see a picture of the house," said Tracy. “She said I could stay in the house and make payments to her instead of a bank.”

That day Marilyn gave Tracy more that a place to live; she gave her a vision of grace and a reason for thanksgiving.

Motivation

Take a moment to consider and reconsider what you have to be thankful for… then tell someone.

Begin a new tradition. In the middle of food and family and friends try this: Hand out cards. Tell everyone to write down something he or she is thankful for… but don’t sign the card. Put all the cards in a bowl. Pull them out one by one, read them, and try to guess who wrote each one. It’s thanksgiving with a little WOW attached.