Never confine your thankfulness and gratitude to one day or even one season.

Doing so is tantamount to telling your wife you love her, only on Valentines Day.

If you love her you will tell her more than on one day a year.

If you only told her that one day, you are starving her.

An equal balance would be that she would only be intimate with you once a year…..on your birthday.

You would then be sitting in the “starving” chair.
If you were to only think about the gratitude and thankfulness you have toward God or those people in your life….

at or during the Thanksgiving holiday…

you are most likely, not thankful.
Thankfulness is a way of life.

Thankfulness is an attitude of the Heart,

an action of the Will

and a position of the Mind.

There is no sense of entitlement in a thankful heart.

There is no hesitation of the Will to express gratitude.

There is no high minded or ego-driven thought in the Mind of a thankful person.
I would venture to encourage you to list ALL of the things of and for which you are THANKFUL.

It will grow as you consider it.
When we commit wrong,

our conscience,

The Word

and The Presence of Christ

will convict us.
Conviction drives us to a decision.

We will decide to push back against it and refuse its work.

Or, we will decide to accept the conviction and participate in its work to mold us into a different person.
I hope a spirit or attitude of thankulness convicts you to be a person who is full of gratitude, full of remembrance about …..

what your gifts are or have been,

where your gifts came from,

and from whom they were given.
If Thanksgiving convicts you ….you will begin to express gratitude to people.

You will begin to express thanks to people and to God for the things done to and for you.
Begin practicing Thanksgiving.

NOW.

Doing so will create the habit

and then the habit will develop a lifestyle.

The lifestyle will cause numerous effects.
Your words will enrich,

encourage

and lift other people.
And, your heart will feel more full.

“Your car takes on a totally different look when the light shines on it.” 

A good friend made this observation as the bright sunlight reflected off of my car.

The car I drive has a hue which only appears when direct sunlight hits it.

On a cloudy day, the car has one look and when the direct sunlight hits it, another more brilliant color appears.

Color is visible when any light falls upon it. As the light becomes more brilliant, the look of most any color Increases in its brilliance as well.

Light.

It comes from the sun, so far away, bends through the atmosphere and touches the created objects in our world and gives color to our existence.

In the absence of that Light, there exists the absence of color.

The blue of the ocean becomes black.

The blue of the sky goes dark.

The green of trees goes gray and then void.

I own a suit that is a nice shade of blue. When direct light strikes it, the checks and small squares become visible and the designers intent is fully visible.

Our eyes work best with particular degrees of Light. 

In darkness, the pupils dilate, and increase in size for one reason.

That one reason that the pupils expand is in search of Light, any Light. 

Our eyes betray the fact that we are not made to exist in the absence of Light.

Today, physicians recommend proper exposure to sunlight. There is a vitamin….D…. which is called the sunshine vitamin because it supplies in tablet what Sunlight supplies on its own.

It’s healthy.

The comment my friend made about the Light changing the look and color of my car…represents a Truth about our lives and existence.

Darkness breeds many and multiple problems.

It allows us to hide.

Light uncovers us and other things.

Turn the light on outside your house and some night creatures scatter.

Light comes into our lives, not merely from the Sun, but from Its Creator.

This Light changes the hue and appearance of our lives.

This Light changes the inner life we live as well.

This Light brings warmth and comfort with peace.

The physical sunlight brings warmth and comfort…..

the spiritual light gives us direction, Joy, clarity, a guide to our future, and a peace that passes all else.

When that direct Light shines on us…..

It is so brilliant and bright…

It shines in and though us illuminating the perfect purpose we were made for.

And, I believe that a secret to Life is this….

every person knows this Light gives the things I have written…..

some receive this Light gladly, with all of its brilliance, clarity and Truth…and It reveals the Designers perfect Intent.

And some refuse it, and close their eyes to it.

And even as they defiantly close their eyelids in refusal….

the very pupils in those eyes, 

behind those closed lids…..

are expanding, 

increasing in size,

and searching for that always present and needed Light.