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Take Time to be Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving here in America, a day filled with family, turkey, and football. It's also a day to reflect on the things we are thankful for (which may or may not include the family, turkey, and football). However, I think thankfulness should not just be reserved for one specific day.

The leader of a group on Facebook that I am a member of has created a "30 Days of Thankful" challenge for the group members. Each day, she posts something she is thankful for, and the rest of us reply with things we are thankful for that day. Doing this every day has really challenged me to think every day about what I'm thankful for, which means that I have been more open to seeing the good in each day. Not only that, but since I have decided to write something different each day, I have been challenging myself to come up with a variety of things to be thankful for. I have enjoyed the challenge so much that I plan to continue thinking of at least one thing I'm thankful for each day. I want to challenge all of you to do the same.

In 1 Thessalonians 15:18, St. Paul instructs us to "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." That tells us that not only is thankfulness a good idea, it's what God wants from us. He has given us everything we have, and he wants us to acknowledge this. In addition to helping us be more in line with God's will for our lives, it also helps us to be more positive. It's hard to have a bad day when you are actively looking for a reason to be thankful. Admittedly, some of the things I said I am thankful for were things that helped me get through difficult days. You can do this too. We probably all have days where it's hard to find something to be thankful for, but every day has one, even if it's just the fact that we made it through the day.
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