Being Thankful

By Kristi Gringhuis

I know that we’re a couple of weeks past Thanksgiving, but a weekend that is focused on “giving thanks” always get me thinking. Being able to stop and spend time around a table with family and friends, remembering the things that we are thankful for, is a real blessing. But for the rest of the year, in the midst of the busyness and the regular rhythms of life, do I stop and pause to regularly give thanks?
Every Thanksgiving, our family goes around the table and shares the things that we are thankful for. Our church family at Grindstone Church took time during our morning service to pass the microphone around and do the same thing. Even the family on the hit TV show This Is Us goes around their table, tossing an old ball of yarn from an itchy, childhood Thanksgiving sweater, sharing the things that they are thankful for. This practice of giving thanks together never gets old. It’s not always a comfortable exercise, but at the end of that time together, everyone there realizes that giving thanks is never a waste of time.
It can be all too easy to focus on ourselves and the problems that we face — both major interruptions to our lives and also those annoying little nuisances. If you’re like me, when life feels busy and frantic, it can be hard to stop and pause and reflect on the good things in our lives. But I’m learning that as soon as I take my eyes off of myself and try to look for the things around me that I can be thankful for, it can very powerfully shift my perspective on things.

I don’t know what you’re walking through right now. Life may feel very busy, and it may even feel overwhelming, but I challenge you to pause and look for something that you can be thankful for today. Maybe it’s a complete stranger smiling at you on the street. Maybe it’s time with a friend over a coffee. Maybe it’s seeing the glorious colours of fall around us right now. And maybe it’s remembering that there is a God who loves you so much. He knows you and He loves you and He tells us that He will “never leave us or forsake us” (Deuteronomy 31:6).
I don’t know about you, but that’s something that I’m thankful for.