S7 E5: Thankfulness... More Than A Season

 What if you have the password to peace and aren’t using it?

Happy November friends!

If I asked you for one word you think of when thinking about the month of November I”m pretty sure almost all of you would say Thanksgiving or thankfulness 

I love the celebration of Thanksgiving. I love the Fall colors and textures and all the traditional foods that come with it. The gathering and the sharing together. All of it!

We will focus on what it means to live a life of thankfulness these next few weeks on the pod. And I’m hoping it will spark a new and deeper level of gratitude within each of us.

So what does it mean to be thankful?

Definition of thankful

Expressing gratitude and relief

It was interesting that it said expressing gratitude.

Thankfulness isn’t something we are supposed to keep to ourselves.

One of the scriptures that comes to mind for me when I think about thankfulness is Psalm 100:4

Which says 

Enter his gates with thanksgiving;

    go into his courts with praise.

    Give thanks to him and praise his name.

I love how it reads in the message bible:

Enter with the password: “Thank you!”

    Make yourselves at home, talking praise.

    Thank him. Worship him.

5 

For God is sheer beauty,

    all-generous in love,

    loyal always and ever.

I love how the message version uses the phrase “ enter with the password “thank you”

Such a beautiful reminder that approaching God with the posture of thankfulness welcomes us and makes us feel at home in his presence of peace and love.

I know I’m not the only one that has believed at some point in their life that if you tried hard enough or did all the right things life would be easy.

When you have this belief you live in a constant state of striving

Thinking if you just try a little harder and figure a few more things out 

Life will be smooth sailing.

And then one day you realize a beautiful life is wrapped up in hard days.

A beautiful life is seeing the beauty and gifts in the midst of pain.

Life is moments of Celebrating births and new life in the midst of heartbreak over miscarriages and the loss of precious ones you love.

So what if we have the password to peace and aren’t using it?

What if we “entered” every day with gratefulness?

*life doesn't have to be perfect to have peace

It’s about knowing the prince of peace

So that’s our focus for this week.

Being intentional about setting our hearts and minds on being thankful as we enter every day, every moment of our lives. 

Recognizing that God’s peace and presence are already there for us to receive.

Love you guys and I’m so very thankful for each of you!

Thanks for being here.

I’m looking forward to continuing this conversation around thankfulness with you.

Talk soon!