"Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action" -WJ Cameron

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. There are so many things that I love about it: getting together with family and sharing a beautiful meal together, the changing leaves and the sound that they make under my feet, the smell of fires burning in chimneys, the crisp cool air, throwing the football around... I could go on and on. It is true that I love these things very much, but I feel that Thanksgiving means so much more to me this year. I started thinking about what Thanksgiving means; I looked it up in the dictionary and it says thanksgiving is the ACT of giving thanks, and EXPRESSION of gratitude. When I was a child I was taught that Thanksgiving was a time to reflect upon and recall all of the things I was thankful for. I still think of Thanksgiving as a time to count my blessings... but this year I am realizing that Thanksgiving is more than just thinking about all the things I am thankful for; thanksgiving is an action. Well, what does this mean? Does it mean to verbally express how thankful I am to God, my husband, children, family, and friends? Does it mean doing things to show them how much I appreciate them? These things, no doubt, are very important.
However, I think thanksgiving is even more than that. I was listening to the radio the other day and I heard a man say something very unexpected. He said "Thankfulness comes from within our hearts and it isn't dependent on outside circumstances." This man was right. It is quite easy to be thankful when everything is going great in our lives- we are healthy, well-fed, have clean water to drink, and a warm roof to live under- and on top of those basic needs we have clothes, transportation, family and friends that love and support us, and so many freedoms in this country that we take for granted... but what if all of these things were stripped away? What if Matt lost his job, or our house burned down, or our health declined, etc.? Would we still be thankful? What I have realized is that thanksgiving is an attitude of the heart. Especially when faced with adversity, the true attitude of our heart comes out. This kind of thankfulness reminds me of the story of Job and how everything that meant the most to him on this earth was taken away from him yet he never turned his heart away from God. That is amazing to me. He was able to face adversity with praise and thanksgiving in his heart. Having a good heart attitude is hard work and requires constant attention and effort. So as I go through the rest of this year I want to remember to continuously examine the attitude of my heart and make the conscious choice to be thankful in ALL situations and circumstances.