1 Chronicles 16:34

“O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.”

Ephesians 5:20 

“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;”

My oldest daughter, who is 7, recently brought me her devotional book that had a little story of a lightning bug who woke up with only 3 hairs on her head. That first morning the little bug looked in the mirror and said, “Three hairs! Looks like today is the day for a braid” and proceeded to braid her hair. The next day when the little bug woke up she only had two hairs on her head. As she looked into the mirror she said to herself, “Two hairs, well piggy tails it is then!”. The third morning the poor little bug woke up to find only one lone hair on her head and yet exclaimed, “Its ponytail day!”. When she woke up the next day she had no hair at all, but stopped to thankfully exclaim how glad she was that she could get ready so much faster now! I unfortunately, do not know the name of the author of this cute little story but I will say that while it made me chuckle, the lesson has stuck with me. 

Having a thankful and grateful demeanor is not always an easy thing to maintain, especially in 2020 😊 . While we have many things to be thankful for, we are constantly reminded by the world of all we are “missing”. We begin to focus on the material and temporal, and our immediate needs come to live at the forefront of our minds and hearts. This begins to strip us of our grateful spirit and the peace that comes from giving thanks. But lets be honest, the circumstances we often face are not always easy for our human hearts to find the good in, are they? Finding the parts to complain about is much easier, and friends may even seem to listen more intently when we are going through tragedy. However, if we are not careful, we will find that going to that friend, or creating that social media post with all our woes and heartaches,(serious though they may be), becomes our first line of defense over stopping to take anything to our Savior. 

I personally struggled with finding anything to be thankful for within the confines of Covid restrictions. I found myself frustrated and irritated that things had changed so drastically over night for our ministry. I’m embarrassed to say that, I complained a great deal through the early weeks of it all, and had to ask some serious forgiveness for purposely refusing to find the blessing in it. I had to learn to trust the Lord in a new way. This was not a test that was passed over night, but I’m thankful that I serve a merciful God, whose mercies are new every morning, and while I may have tendencies to give up on the situation, God doesn’t give up on me through it. 

We will face some hard struggles and 1 Peter 4:12 tells us to even expect them to come, all the while 1 Peter 1:7 calling the trials of our faith more precious then gold! Precious trials? It would almost seem like a contradictory statement wouldn’t it? But, it’s not for a thankful Christian! We are to rejoice in the trials, to give thanks in all things. The bottom line of the lesson I learned through Covid was that even if the circumstances seem to contain, literally, no silver lining, there is always a mighty God to praise for his goodness and mercy. Praise, gratitude, thankfulness to the God of my salvation should be first off my lips each morning, first in my heart each day, so that as I head into the bleakest of moments that life has to offer me, I can be thankful for the very presence of Jehovah.  

Praising the Lord can take on different forms and I would encourage you to use as many of them each day as possible. Simply speaking praise out loud is the most simple. Hebrews 13:15b “…the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” Make a list of praises while in the car with your kids or at the breakfast table as you are starting your day. Ask him to bring specific things, to praise him for, to your mind, and as he does STOP and out loud, praise him for it! 

Singing is another form of praise and thankfulness to use each day. You may think you cannot sing, but scripture simply calls for a “joyful noise” my friend. So ask him to put a song on your heart each day, and sing it! Pick up a hymn book, (keep one in your home if you can), and sing some of the old hymns of the faith. You will be amazed what singing “Count Your Blessings” or “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” will do for your grateful meter. 

Prayer should be a favorite and frequented form of thanksgiving for a Christian. Take any opportunity you have to kneel before the God of the universe. Stop to realize who you are speaking with as you pray. I promise that just the knowledge that you can come boldly before him, by yourself, will give you all you need to praise him all day long. 

Today, and everyday, lets be thankful for all he has done in our lives. Living in the realization that if he never blessed my life in any other way, I can still praise him for my salvation and for the fact that he is always, only good.