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Thanksgiving: Counting Blessings

As Christians we are encouraged and even admonished to be continually thankful (Hebrews 13:15). While I try to stay in that “continually thankful” attitude, truth be told, it just is not always the case. However, when the Thanksgiving holiday rolls around I, like many of you, take a little extra time to reflect upon how I am so richly blessed. I would like to share with you just some of the things for which I am thankful and then give you some ideas on how you can count your own blessings and even be a blessing to others.

Counting My Blessings

Sometimes I am overwhelmed when I look back over the year at Thanksgiving time and begin to count my blessings, for example, this year I am thankful for:

Counting Your Blessings

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Be continually thankful

Don’t wait until once a year to count your blessings – write them down daily. Incorporate this into your daily devotions. Get a journal, nothing fancy, it can even just be a notebook and jot down one new blessing every day. By the end of the year you will have 365 blessings!

Turn it into a two year plan of counting your blessings by taking that first year of blessings and writing each on a little slip of paper. Then put the papers into a large container and pick one out each day. This will help you to remember that warm and fuzzy feeling (the Bible calls it joy) that you had when you first recorded that blessing last year.

Even as the days and years go by, when you are blessed, write it in that “Journal of Blessings”. You may need to really look for the little things somedays. Especially on a bad day, look deep and instead of focusing so much on the “bad” look for the good. As Paul says in Philippians 4:4, 11-12:

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice …  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

Be a Blessing to Others

What are you doing to be a blessing to others? When someone sees you are they happy because of your smile – or uncomfortable because of your dreary attitude? The Bible tells us that we should esteem and edify others greater than ourselves (Phil 2:3-4; 1 Thes 5:11). Here are some things you can do to be a blessing to others this holiday season and every season:

As you can see, it doesn’t take much to count your blessings when you are rejoicing in the Lord. Being a blessing to others will help them to count their blessings too. I pray that as we approach this holiday season that you will be continually thankful for all that our great God has given to you. I pray also that you will give some thought to how you may bless others. Feel free to share your ideas in the comments below.

From all of us at WhatChristiansWantToKnow, we pray that God is with you and grants you a very Happy Thanksgiving holiday.

Resources:

The Holy Bible, King James Version

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