120. Here Is A New Concept: Celebrate "Thanksgivings"

Well, here we are. It’s Thanksgiving week in the U.S. The week where we are reminded to pause and give thanks. I found something recently that caught my attention. The concept to celebrate “Thanksgivings” completely grabbed my focus. If you’re interested in celebrating Thanksgiving with a fresh perspective and maybe a new concept, listen in and together we’ll find timely hope and encouragement. Not just for this week, but for every week of our lives.

Here Is a New Concept: Celebrate "Thanksgivings" | woman holding up her hands in the shape of a heart

As I think about Thanksgiving Day approaching, my heart’s desire is to live a life of thanksgiving, and to have a grateful and thankful heart every day. But I’ll be the first to confess I don’t always live that out so well. I’m not always giving thanks, and I don’t always have a grateful heart.

Maybe you can relate.

Or maybe you follow through with your good intentions of living in thankfulness better than I do. I hope that’s the case.

So I’m grateful for the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s a day set aside that helps those of us who forget or who don’t always live our thankfulness out so well. But of course it’s much more than that.

You know me, I looked up the definition of the word thanksgiving, and here is what I found.

a public celebration in acknowledgment of divine favor or kindness.
the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, especially to God.
an expression of thanks, especially to God.
a day set apart for giving thanks to God.

Thanksgiving is an act, or practice, or expression, but it’s also a day. And don’t these definitions encourage you to look at thanksgiving, the act and the day, with a renewed perspective? I mean, pause for a moment and think about all the many blessings in our lives for which we are grateful.

When was the last time we thanked God for them?

It’s a good day for us to celebrate “Thanksgivings.”

What britannica.com shared about the New England colonists inspired me last week. “The New England colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating ‘Thanksgivings,’ days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought.” Hmmm, maybe we can learn something from this. Celebrate “Thanksgivings” is something we can each do.

Click on the player above and listen to the 13-minute episode.

I know it’s a full week as we prepare for Thanksgiving, but let’s not let the preparations pull us away from giving thanks. Let’s begin today. Friend, for what are you giving thanks today? Let’s make today–and every day–be a day of thanksgiving. Remember this week, I am thanking God for you. You are a blessing. Thanks for hanging out with me here. God bless you and happy Thanksgiving!

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