THANKFUL: Aware and appreciative of a benefit, grateful.
We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for each and every day! How much time do you spend each day expressing your thankfulness or gratefulness? Do you ever get into the mindset that you are entitled to something or everything? Do you just expect those things you should be thankful for?
I want to encourage you this month to begin looking outside of your inner world and really see all of the things you have to be thankful for. Even those things that we all tend to take for granted, we should give thanks for.
Each of us have a home to go to every night. One in 45 children experience homelessness in America each year. That’s over 1.6 million children. It is estimated that one-quarter of the world’s population is without shelter or in an unhealthy or unacceptable condition.
We all have access to food and are able to count on the fact that we don’t have to worry about if we will have food for our next meal. In 2012, 15.8 million children under the age of 18 in the United States were unable to have consistent access to nutritious food necessary for a healthy life. About 842 million people in the world do not eat enough to be healthy, This means that one in every 8 people on Earth go to bed hungry each night.
These are just a couple of basic needs that we have and that we should be thankful that are being met. There are so many more things that we can be thankful for:
Having heat and electricity
The ability to go to school (be it public, private, or homeschool)
Having clean water to drink
Being able to feel safe in our homes
Having loving family and friends
Being able to help others and be a blessing to others
The list can go on and on. I challenge you to, daily, focus on those things you have to be thankful for. I encourage you to find ways to help others around you who are less fortunate - maybe help with a feeding program, donate to the homeless, or even befriend someone you know does not have may friends! You can make a difference in this world!
“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” 1 Thessalonians 5:15