How to Have an EXTRAordinary Thanksgiving!

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Last year, most of us couldn’t celebrate Thanksgiving together due to Covid 19. So this year, Thanksgiving will be special for many of us. But how would you like it to be extra special? Let me tell you…

How to have an EXTRAordinary Thanksgiving!

Did you know that the words think and thank have the same root word? I find this fascinating and very helpful in my endeavor to thank my most-generous God with more than just a mere and passing “thank You.”

Why is this word correlation helpful? Because to truly recognize all the things for which we can be grateful, we need to put on our thinking caps. (If you’ve followed me before you know that I love to do this!)

I’m sure you’ve heard about making a thank you list which includes the little things, the ordinary stuff we often take for granted.

Recently, as I was making my thank you list, jotting down these ordinary things, something extraordinary happened—my pen just kept writing! (Sometimes I think my pen has a mind of its own!) These ordinary things turned into a list that kept going and going toward all of their out-workings and greater appreciation.

What started as a little stream of thanksgiving turned into a torrent of overwhelming gratitude in my heart!

What I did was to simply consider all the benefits these things bring me. I listed why I was grateful for them. Here’s a small example of how my ordinary got expanded into the extraordinary.

I am thankful for:

♥ Toiletries so I can look presentable, keep myself clean and therefore healthy.

♥ My couch where I can relax, be refreshed and re-energized to serve my Lord.

♥ My Pen—so I can

  • Write notes and underline key principles in my Bible
  • Write thank you notes
  • Make my to-do list enabling me to be more productive

♥ My computer so I can:

  • Check my emails and stay in communication with people
  • Search the internet for pertinent information
  • Have a website for this ministry
  • Write books and blogs to impact others for God’s Kingdom

♥ My hands and fingers so I can:

  • Feed myself
  • Button my blouse
  • Touch
  • Shake hands
  • Clap
  • Express worship
  • Turn the pages of my Bible
  • Type on my computer
  • Pick things up when they fall

♥ Legs and feet so I can:

  • Walk
  • Hike and enjoy God’s creation and be a witness to people on the trail
  • Exercise to stay healthy and energized to serve my Lord
  • Kick my kitty (Just kidding! I wanted to see if you were really reading this looooooong list.)

♥ My ears so I can hear:

  • Laughter
  • Music that comforts my soul, brings me joy, and makes me dance
  • What others are saying which allows me to engage, participate, and therefore feel like I belong
  • The Word of God that teaches me, encourages my soul, and convicts me of sin which leads me to repentance

♥ My mouth so I can:

  • Enjoy food; get the nourishment I need
  • Have conversations with others to build relationships
  • Speak words of truth, love, and encouragement
  • Fulfill my God-given mission of telling others about God’s love and salvation
  • Teach
  • Sing praises to God
  • Laugh

♥ My kitties so I can:

I could go on and on (that’s why this blog is longer than normal)! And we don’t have to stop with the little things, we could include anything or anyone in our lives and expand with why we are grateful for them. 

To help you develop this extra-ordinary gratitude for yourself, I put together a free little tool. Just click on the picture below to get yours. 

notebook and pen next to flowers

I plan to continue thinking and thanking God with this expanded mind-blowing method. I hope you will too, then…

We won’t take things, people, and most of all God for granted!

So my friends, I hope you will use this around your Thanksgiving table to engage your friends and family. I know that it will be an extra-ordinary Thanksgiving Day if you do! And don’t forget to praise the One who has given you all these things, especially Jesus—the most extraordinary gift of all!

And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph 5:20)

 P.S. Don’t forget to thank God for the turkey and the dressing, and the pumpkin pie, and the whipped cream, and the forks, and the plates, and the cooks, and the…………………………………!

P.S. This tool helped me and others so much that I published a book on Amazon using this method. You can check it out here. 

Waterfalls against black backdrop

 

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.