A Heart of Thanksgiving

It's easy in the midst of the daily challenges and stresses of life to forget.  

It's easy to become consumed by the things we would like to change about ourselves, our finances, our relationships, our nation, and our world.  

And so we forget that we have so much to be thankful for.  On Thanksgiving Day, we deliberately pause to remember the many good things we have to be thankful for - the things we are grateful for.

I have a good friend who has made it a practice to keep a running list of the things she is thankful for - sometimes little things, sometimes big things.  Kimberlee Conway Ireton writes:

This list has filled me: how much I have been given! It has humbled me: who am I to receive such riches? It has changed me: the glass of my life is no longer half empty; it never was.  This list has pointed me again and again to the God of all good things. It has corrected my faulty vision: I am no longer myopic and moping. I can now see my life for what it is: a gift of grace full of gifts of grace from the God of grace.

It's a good challenge for us to develop a habit and a heart of thanksgiving - not just on November 24, 2011, but on every day of the year.  It takes time and a deliberate effort for us to pause each day and remember and give thanks.  Being thankful doesn't make our problems disappear, but it does help us keep life in perspective.

Best wishes to you and your loved ones as you gather on Thursday to celebrate the many graces and gifts in your life - all of the things for which you are thankful.

Blog Note:  Because many of us will be taking time off from work around Thanksgiving, I'll be taking a week long break from this blog.  I'll post again early next week. See you then!

Mike Purdy's Public Contracting Blog 

© 2011 by Michael E. Purdy Associates, LLC 

http://PublicContracting.blogspot.com