Give Thanks...

Everyone appears to be able to write a beautiful post on how Thankful they are during this Thanksgiving Season.  Not a single one seems trite or list all the traditional things we are all thankful for: family, friends, home, job, food, etc.  How do they do it?  I have been trying to write this post for over a week and all I can come up with is the trite and traditional list, and I'm not even always grateful for them!

Yes, I am thankful to have family, immediate and extended, but lets face it sometimes things would be much easier without some of them.

I am thankful to have friends, all of whom are wonderful, but it is difficult to always be a good friend back, to care for them and say the right thing.  That doesn't mean I don't want them as friends, but I am so sad when I fail. 

Okay, I am 100% thankful for my husband's job and the ability it gives me to stay home with my children.  But some days I dream of how nice it would be to work at a job that I was satisfied and fulfilled in and that competence was actually valued.  Not that I cannot be a competent mom, but the real center of motherhood is not in competency but in joining in the mess of childhood--something I am NOT competent at, though I will continue to try and continue to love my kids.

So I was thinking and praying about this post, and telling God that I really don't feel like I'm ungrateful, but that maybe I don't really know how to be grateful.  After all I am definitely one that sees the glass half empty and I can't even post a nice sweet list of things I'm grateful for without pointing out some of the flaws.  Seriously, what is WRONG with me?  And this is what He said (no, not in an audible voice, though I believe He is completely capable of that, but I know it is from Him):

"Live in the moment.  When you make a list of the good things in your life, without listing both pros and cons, you feel thankful.  You remember to praise Me.  You acknowledge the Awe you have of Me.  You thank Me for what I have done.  It is when you start wondering what I will do in the future that you start to fear that the present is not enough.  I am FAITHFUL.  You can TRUST Me.  NEVER have I forsaken you, and I NEVER will.

Matthew 6: 25-34:

      “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe  you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 
      So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

I do not know why I constantly need to be reminded that the opposite of Thankfulness is NOT actually ingratitude it is Worry.  It is stated so clearly in Philippians 4:6-7:

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

So how can I be more grateful this Thanksgiving Season?  Worry less and enjoy the moment I am in.