Twenty-one Days of Thanksgiving

Starting today there are 21 days until Thanksgiving! TWENTY ONE DAYS?! That just doesn't seem possible. Maybe it's because September and October have sort of turned into a blur. As I was sitting at my house last Sunday afternoon by myself watching Meet Me In St. Louis, which happens to be one of my favorites, I was filled with gratitude toward a month that celebrates Thanksgiving. I couldn't express how important giving thanks is and I am glad about that. I want to be a person who looks for gifts and finds a something to be thankful for around every turn. There is much to be thankful for and if I spent the rest of my life naming things, I don't think I could get them all. Some days it is easy to forget to look for things to be thankful for. We are creatures of habit and somehow it is so easy to adopt an attitude of bitterness or discontent, but I read a book one time (that I have referenced before here) about giving thanks and the life-changing impact it had on this author. I keep coming back to it in my life and I think she might be on to something. I have gone back and re-read my blogs from September and October and although there were good times and moments in those rapid months, there was also a lot of unrest and discontentment. Well today I am declaring war on that tendency in me to be frustrated and unsettled and the only way I know how to do that is to continue to give thanks, even for the little things and even in tough situations.

The most important part of thanksgiving is that it gives the credit somewhere else. So it stops being about how great I am or how incredible is this life, that I mistakenly believe, I have created for myself. No. Thanksgiving says "How great You are. And how incredible this life You have given to me." Thanksgiving recognizes the gift and the giver and we need to practice it. Because this life is not a story about me. And the more I can pound that into my ridiculously stubborn and selfish brain, the better off I'll be.

I am going to attempt something pretty bold. I read a blog yesterday by a pretty incredible woman named Ashley. Throughout the month of October, she blogged about peace. Some of the blogs were pretty heartfelt and others were just a quick snapshot. Using her as inspiration, I plan to spend the next 21 days blogging about thankfulness - what I'm learning about it, how simple or complex it can be, how my heart feels, how gratitude can affect even the smallest of moments, and how difficult it all is. I don't expect it to be easy, but I do think it will be good. So, come along with me on a journey to developing a thankful heart. I can't think of many better way to invest my time.

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