November is the month when our nation takes a day to give thanks for the blessings that we have. We know this is something that we shouldn’t do just one day a year, but should do each and every day because we have so much to be thankful for. I guess there are many reasons why we fail to give thanks, but one of those stems from the false idea that we are not blessed “enough.” What I mean by this is while we know we are blessed, we see other people getting blessings that we think we deserve and this makes us jealous.
Several years ago, Cassie and I were on an Educational Opportunities trip with our good friend, Rev. Faye Stephens. We got into an elevator and the CEO of Educational Opportunities was in the elevator. He asked me if Faye Stephens was part of my group. I responded that she was and he said, “She just won a free cruise for next year.” I have to admit, my first thought was, “That’s not fair!” I was the one that encouraged Faye to go on the trip, I was the one who led our group. If anyone deserved the free cruise, it was me! But the reality is, no one “deserved” the free cruise. It was a gift. And once I got over my own disappointment, I had to admit, I was happy that Faye received this special blessing.
That’s a lesson I hope we all grasp as we approach Thanksgiving Day. God has blessed us in ways too numerous to mention and if we really take time to consider what God has done for us, we will realize we don’t deserve all we have, it is a gift. The fact that someone else has received something we want or something we don’t have should not stop us from enjoying what we do have.
In November, I hope you will pause each and every day to give thanks for all the blessings you have, especially the ones you don’t deserve. More importantly, after counting those blessings, I hope you will be motivated to be a blessing to others.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Pastor Brian