Beyond November

Ahh... Thanksgiving.  I think I might enjoy it even more than any other holiday there is.  Okay... maybe it's second fiddle to Christmas... but it's a CLOSE runner-up!

Thanksgiving.  The time of year we pause to be thankful.  The time we slow down to see the blessings that are right in front of us.  All around us.  Every day.  Yes... THOSE blessings.  And yep... that one too!

And when you've been counting all year long, this daily thanks seems like an ordinary part of living.  Like breathing.
Because without gratitude, we slowly die inside.
I believe that.
We die.

Everything is a gift. 

Don't believe it?  Look around!

Warm blanket.
Clean water.
Transportation.
Ability to walk.
Music.
Blue skies.
Green grass.
Trees.
Family.
Clothes.

It's all a gift.  That we don't even deserve.

Grace.

And the gifts continue even when we're not looking.  Even when we're not paying attention.  Because of GRACE, they are there anyway.  Always there.

Safe travels to and from work.
Kindness of a stranger.
Forgiveness.
Acceptance.
Air to breathe.
Sleep.

Those things too.

They are all gifts.

And how many times have we taken for granted these... and other... gifts?  How many times have we been walking right through life, dead to it all? 

How many times have I missed... GRACE?

Because grace is undeserved favor.  And I have been blind to the gift of grace for far too long.

I am tired of living an empty life.  Sleeping right through the miracles... the gifts... the blessings.

Ann Voskamp says it best in her book, One Thousand Gifts, "Thanksgiving is the evidence of our acceptance of whatever He gives.  Thanksgiving is the manifestation of our Yes! to His grace."

And I say Yes!

By saying Yes! to seeing the gifts... counting the gifts... naming the gifts... I am really saying Yes! to God.  A God who is bigger and stronger than anything and everything else.  Yes! to a God who gives grace and mercy to an undeserving soul like me.  Yes! to a God who... "From His abundance, we have all received one gracious blessing after another." John 1:16.

One gracious blessing after another.

A smile.
Smell of a newborn baby.
Chocolate.
Warm soup.
Phone call from a friend.
White, puffy clouds in sky.
Long weekend.
Coffee.
Crunch of leaves in fall.

Grace!  Blessings!  Gifts!

Like Joni Eareckson Tada put it, "He's prepared to fill your days with reasons to give Him praise."

He pours out the blessings.
Our response is to praise Him for them.

And not just at Thanksgiving.

Grace... blessings.... gifts... they outlive the month of November.  They surpass the comfort of a month dedicated to the blanket thanks because it "feels" like it's what we're "supposed" to do.

The other 335 days of the year?  They, too, are grace-filled.
And blessings can be found there too.

Because God... the giver of life, the gift-Giver, deserves our praise in those days too.

Even the hard ones.

Waiting room with loved ones.
Doctors office with sick child.
Courthouse.
Funeral home.
Rain and wind.

He's there too.  And His blessings do not cease because we stop looking.

His blessings... His grace... they carry on.
And so... my praise must carry on.

I will give thanks.  Because I want to live!

Lord, give me eyes to see Your grace.... Your blessings... Your gifts.... every day. 
Beyond November.

All is grace!

Amen?

Amen!