musings

THANKSGIVING: I love this time of year. Turkey, pumpkin pie, family gatherings. But wait a minute! That's not the true essence of this holiday, is it? Isn't it suppose to be a time when we review our blessings as a nation? Not that we shouldn't be thankful every day, but being as human as we are, we need periodic reminders.

There's a great deal of emphasis on "positive thinking" these days, for which I'm grateful. We need to look at the adversities of life and find something to be thankful for. Matthew Henry did. He was a famous scholar of another generation who was once accosted by thieves and robbed. They took every cent he had but he didn't curse the day or the robbers. Instead, he put a positive spin on the event. He wrote these words in his diary:

"Let me be thankful first, because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my money, they didn't take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed."

It is easy to be thankful for the good things in life--freedom, health, family, etc. But how about looking at the negative things and finding something to praise God about? The Apostle Paul did. We know this from the comments he made regarding his trials; he was beaten, shipwrecked, abandoned, imprisoned unjustly, just to name a few, yet he wrote to the believers at Corinth: "...give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you..."

So, when you sit down to the BIG feast this year, try to do likewise!