Giving thanks is an emotional and logical recognition that one has received good things from God and willingly acknowledges that He gave them to us. It can be likened to one moved to compassion to help some one in need. We are that one in need whom God has reached out to and given the blessings of heaven - pouring them out upon our heads and into our lives...into our hearts. Do we recognize it? Or do we mentally assent - only acknowledging His favor with our minds and moving onto other thoughts within the next thought moment? Whether we are thankful in our hearts or we need to be, let us walk and continue to walk in an attitude and posture of thanksgiving. In a song my dad used to sing as a child the chorus went like this: "Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings see what God has done." Whether you like to do it in your head, write it out or take pictures of it, count your blessings. Name them one by one. Acknowledge God who has given you all these things. It will place your heart in the right place, undo habits of complaining, and give you a joyful and happy heart.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Give Thanks
Hello. Happy Thanksgiving to you! I hope you all are in the company of those who love you and care for you. We obviously are not meeting tomorrow due to the holiday. So, I wanted to write a hopefully quick blog post about giving thanks. What is it? As any mathematician would do (I majored in it in college), we start with a definition. From the Websters 1828 online dictionary, thanksgiving means "Rendering thanks for goods received." Thanks means an "expression of gratitude and acknowledgment made to express a sense of favor or kindness received. Gratitude is the feeling or sentiment excited by kindness; thanks are the expression of that sentiment. Luke 6." This dictionary is cool because bible verses are given as the example sentences.
Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory. 1 Cor.15.
Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. 2 Cor.9.
He took bread and gave thanks to God. Acts.27.
Giving thanks is an emotional and logical recognition that one has received good things from God and willingly acknowledges that He gave them to us. It can be likened to one moved to compassion to help some one in need. We are that one in need whom God has reached out to and given the blessings of heaven - pouring them out upon our heads and into our lives...into our hearts. Do we recognize it? Or do we mentally assent - only acknowledging His favor with our minds and moving onto other thoughts within the next thought moment? Whether we are thankful in our hearts or we need to be, let us walk and continue to walk in an attitude and posture of thanksgiving. In a song my dad used to sing as a child the chorus went like this: "Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings see what God has done." Whether you like to do it in your head, write it out or take pictures of it, count your blessings. Name them one by one. Acknowledge God who has given you all these things. It will place your heart in the right place, undo habits of complaining, and give you a joyful and happy heart.
Giving thanks is an emotional and logical recognition that one has received good things from God and willingly acknowledges that He gave them to us. It can be likened to one moved to compassion to help some one in need. We are that one in need whom God has reached out to and given the blessings of heaven - pouring them out upon our heads and into our lives...into our hearts. Do we recognize it? Or do we mentally assent - only acknowledging His favor with our minds and moving onto other thoughts within the next thought moment? Whether we are thankful in our hearts or we need to be, let us walk and continue to walk in an attitude and posture of thanksgiving. In a song my dad used to sing as a child the chorus went like this: "Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings see what God has done." Whether you like to do it in your head, write it out or take pictures of it, count your blessings. Name them one by one. Acknowledge God who has given you all these things. It will place your heart in the right place, undo habits of complaining, and give you a joyful and happy heart.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Was this comment box here before? (excited!!!) I like the concept of God giving to us in need. Yes I knew this, but it hit me, great reminder. Also God is there weather we feel blessed or not. In trials it is the hardest to give thanks, but as mentioned if we are counting our blessings our hearts learn to be with God and pour out gratefulness no matter what circumstance.
ReplyDelete