November. The month to give thanks.
I bought a Thanksgiving hand towel for my kitchen a few weeks ago. It's decorated with print leaves, a turkey, and a cute little saying. The other day when I was talking to my mom, I was trying to remember what the saying was. "Happy Thanksgiving" and "Gobble Gobble" both popped in my head and both would have fit well on the cloth. But when I looked at it an even better saying was printed on it: "Give Thanks."
I've seen lots of people on facebook sharing something that they're thankful for each day. While it may be good for them, I generally try to avoid doing "challenges" like that on facebook. But I do still like to think about all my blessings and what I am thankful for. So I decided to do something a little bit different. For family home evening last night, Tyler and I took three minutes to write down things that we are thankful for (and believe me, three minutes was not enough). After the three minutes were up, we shared what we had written and why. Then we put our lists together and hung it up on the fridge where we can look at it on a regular basis and think of more things we are thankful for. This week we are making a special effort to count our blessings.
When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Count Your Blessings
LDS Hymn #241
LDS Hymn #241
However you do it - posting on facebook, creating a family list, writing in your journal each night - it's always good to count your blessings and to give thanks for what you have. But what if we had a thankful heart all year round, not just at Thanksgiving? What difference would that make in our individual lives? How would we be changed? I think what we did for family home evening last night would be good to do a couple times each year. Our blessings are always increasing and giving thanks just once is not enough. We're going to try and make this a regular family home evening, although I'm not sure how often we'll do it. Remember to count your blessings, and give thanks.
On a side note, some of the things on Tyler's list made me laugh (a happy laugh, not a mean laugh). I absolutely love that man. And I will always be thankful that I have him.
