The Thanksgiving Challenge

The DJs on the radio station I generally listen to issued a challenge today about telling someone something you are thankful for everyday between now and Thanksgiving. Since I am prone to exaggeration, I thought it would be neat to blog each day about that which I am grateful for instead of just saying it to someone. Why not go over the top with it? Since I am probably not disciplined enough to write here regularly, I doubt that is going to happen. However, I am confident that there are enough things that God has blessed me with that I could make a list of something for each day of the year. I am also intrigued by what impact it might have in my life and in the lives of those around me.

Would I spend more time looking for the good in various situations or people that God has placed in my life?

Would I be better at detecting God's presence in a difficult situation?

Would I see people more through His eyes instead of through my own cloudy vision?

Would I be closer to God at the end of this challenge?

How would it impact the lives of my family and friends?

In her book, The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom said that when she was in the Auschwitz concentration camp, she was thankful for the lice that were rampant throughout the barracks. She said as long as they had lice, the Nazi guards refused to come in so Corrie and her sister Betsy were able to worship God right in the middle of all of that death and destruction. I remember reading this when I was about ten or so and thinking it would be so gross to have lice. I guess I completely missed the fact that lice were the least of their worries in the middle of the holocaust. It wasn't until I was older that I was able to appreciate what she was really saying: even in the direst of circumstances, there is something to be thankful for; even if it is lice.

I have often said that I think thanksgiving should be an attitude, a state of mind, instead of something we focus on just one day each year. But sometimes I get bogged down with day to day living and I forget to focus on what I am thankful for and what God has done for me. I'm going to try and change that through this experiment.

So KLove, I will accept your challenge and see where it leads me. Maybe I'll still be blogging about what I'm thankful for this time next year.

Psalm 92:1-4
1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
2 To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night,
3 With the ten-stringed lute and with the harp, with resounding music upon the lyre.
4 For You, O Lord, have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands.