No Brainer thankfulness

I considered this whole idea of thanksgiving being a national holiday at work recently as I was typing some business correspondence to one of our vendors in Japan. Sometimes, we talk about our country's national holidays and it is interesting to find out what countries around the world take time off to celebrate. As I considered telling her about how we as a nation set aside one day per year to give thanks to our God...I was instantly struck with emotion. It was both good and sad...the good part is that at one time we did this...our nations leaders set aside a day to nationally thank God. That's an awesome thought! The sad part, as I mentioned before, is how far we have move God away from this holiday in our present culture. A good question to ask many of our fellow countryman would be,not what you are thankful for this year, but who you are thankful to. Unfortunately, if there were no national day of thanks right now, I can't imagine anyone of our leadership on either side of the isle today even considering the idea. Can you?
So what does it mean to be thankful to God in the right ways as believers? In all circumstances? Are we as Christians doing a good job of being thankful and displaying an attitude of graditude? How would our lives look different if we never did anything for God, but get this thankful thing right? What would non-believers think if we were truely always thankful to God in all circumstances.

First, lets look at what I would call no brainer thankfulness. Yet, if we are honest with eachother, yes, even us Christians who should have the corner on thankfulness struggle with this. Let me illustrate with this bold yet accurate statement...never before in the course of human history have some many humans had it so good for so long living in this country. Our poverty level is indeed super richness for the majority of the world. Still need a jumpstart on why being a thankful Christian living in the USA should be a no brainer? consider this:

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy .

And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness .. You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day .

If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation .. You are ahead of 700 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world.

If your parents are still alive and still married....you are very rare.
If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair.

If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

That's what I call "No brainer" thankfulness.

In addition, what about all the blessings God puts in your life on a daily basis? Have you ever considered all that God does for you in a given day? As I was preparing this, I heard a message from a pastor who gave out an excersise to try. He said, go through your day from the time you wake up, till the time you go to bed and recount all your activities,from waking, to eating, to interaction with others and then, imagine how it would be if all these things were not in your life. Then, put or give each one of these things back to yourself mentally and view them as a gift from God.

I did this excersise and in about 20 minutes time, I had a list of 23 things that for the most part are a part of my life each day. Really, If I had taken more time, I am sure I could have listed 23 or even 43 or even 63 more things as I got deeper into all that God does for me each day. Here are some highlights:

I woke up - God's gift of life
The heat was on in my house - God's gift of providing for me
I made breakfast for my sons - More of God's provision in both material stuff and opportunities to love
I went to work - God's provision again and the opportunity to be salt and light and love others
I gave some free stuff to a customer we had laying around - More provision, opportunity to love others and show kindness
I did a random act of kindness to my neighbors - provision, opportunity to show kindness
I had an opportunity to try and witness to neighbors but was scared - opportunity to pray and ask for wisdom and courage and grow in my faith
I received immediate encouragement from radio program on the drive home - God answers prayers
I had dinner - More of God's provision opportunities to be with my family love
I had time with each of my three sons - opportunites to love, teach and enjoy them.
I went to sleep - I was reminded of just how much God gives to me each day.

As I went through this excersise, I can tell you that just considering these things for the 15-20 minutes I did, completely changed my attitude. I took the focus off of any of my "issues or problems" and put it back on God and how good He is. In fact, this is what this Pastor said would happen. He said that thankfullness and depression, anger and self pity can't exist in your mind at the same time. He went on to say that, just because you are a thankful person does not mean that you will never experience negative emotions, but once you are in the midst of negative thinking, being thankful is a quick way to get back on track.

I liken it to falling into a hole without a ladder or rope to get back out. We should practice thankfulness and counting our blessings so that we will always have that ladder in our spiritual back pockets and know how to use it. It will remind us of what God has already done for us. If I had this down and were thankful all the time, can you imagine what my attitude would be like? Can you imagine how my life would look different to the outside world?