Can you believe people have their Christmas trees up already? There should be a fine for that or something.

Thanksgiving people! Don’t skip Thanksgiving.

Our pastor mentioned this week how Thanksgiving doesn’t fit well in our American holiday schedule. Specifically, he said there isn’t a market for it.

Christmas is huge and Halloween is growing to become pretty big itself. (He sat on Halloween for a minute, and made some hilarious sarcastic points, but we’ll move on.) Thanksgiving is the third wheel, though, isn’t it?

Thanksgiving is a holiday about being thankful for what you have, not buying more and more.

You can’t sell being grateful.

Or can you?

I’d like to submit that choosing to be grateful can have a greater impact on your life than most things you are going to buy or receive in the next 5 weeks. Yes, I’d like to sell you on being grateful.

Choosing to see the opportunities in your life as a blessing…
Choosing to see the people in your life as gifts…
Choosing to see a bad day as a growing experience…
Being grateful in the good and the bad…

This will make you a happier, more productive, healthier person.
Yes, happier. It is hard to be unhappy when you are choosing to be thankful.
Yes, productive. When you are ungrateful, how productive are you? Most likely you are preoccupied and extremely unproductive. Choose gratefulness.
Yes, healthier. Negativity leads to stress, bad thoughts and bad decisions. These only have a monopoly effect on your health. Gratitude can reverse this.

Being content with what we have leads to a better you and a better me.

I have an idea. I think it will make for a better day, week and life for you.

Try it for one week. At the end of your day, pray, “God, I’m thankful for…” and fill in the blank with the good and the bad.

Not into faith, no problem. Just try, “I am thankful for ….” at the end of your day. You may even want to try it a few times during the day. Let me know how it goes. Share in the comments section below or on social media.