Simply grateful

     Tonight, I am thankful for Young Life.  We just had the annual Christmas party for all the Raleigh Young Life leaders, and what an amazing group of college students.  If you want to have your faith restored in the youth of America, get together with some Young Life leaders.  Not perfect, to be sure, since they are human just like we are, but still they are seeking to walk with Jesus and to love as He loves. They simply love the Lord and relish sharing His love and their lives with high school kids.
      I'm so tired right now I can barely keep my eyes straight, but it's the last day of November, so I have to take one more opportunity before Advent begins tomorrow to say--
             THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU LORD!!!
Might this be the song of our hearts, not just this month but daily.  Help us Father to seek, to savor, and to say out loud thank You for the blessings, big and small.
     "Cultivate a thankful spirit!  It will be a perpetual feast.  There is, or ought to be, with us no such thing as small mercies; all are great, because the least are undeserved.  Indeed a really thankful heart will extract motive for gratitude from everything, making the most even of scanty blessings."  (J.R.MacDuff)
     That just about says it all.  A thankful spirit can be cultivated.  Thanksgiving may not come naturally, but through the power of the Holy Spirit, even the biggest of curmudgeons can become conduits of overflowing gratitude!  We choose to praise... and that begins by choosing to see.  Seeing the blessings He sends disguised in all types of shapes and sizes and situations.  Then after seeing, we savor and say thank you.  And then doing this all day long; keep reminding ourselves of the relentless onslaught of God's grace in our lives--another sunset, another cool fall day, another hug, another hot shower, another  gift of God's forgiveness, another fresh start, another piece of chocolate cake, another day to love.
     That's how we enjoy the perpetual feast.  The gratitude feast of renewed joy, peace, hope, contentment no matter what life might throw at us.
      So today, a simple thank You to the Father for Your Spirit which enables us to be thankful and for Your Son who is the source of our gratitude.
     And, by the way, a thank You that Advent starts tomorrow! Christmas is coming!  Yay!  To God be glory.