Only the gospel could keep us coming back to thanksgiving and gratitude after our American culture has moved on to other things.

Here are just a few thoughts I shared Wednesday night Thanksgiving Eve.

1.  I challenge you to pray a prayer of thanksgiving only!  I learned this from a professor at ACU.  We become so addicted to asking that we need gratitude prayers to break our addiction.

2.  Gratitude comes from finding God’s goodness in the past and present.

3.  Be thankful for the BIG things done in Christ.  If you read Colossians 1, Jesus has done some amazing things.  What Jesus has done keeps our “little things” in perspective.

4.  How appropriate that the day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday…one of the biggest shopping days of the year.  How quickly we go from gratitude to greed.  Remember that consumerism, that feeling in all of us that thinks we’ve gotta have something else or new,  sucks the gratitude out of us.  Consumerism keeps us from being content.

5.  Thanksgiving protects the heart.  Gratitude keeps the heart soft when we are tempted to become bitter and cynical about the things we don’t have.  Thanksgiving reminds us of what is still good in our lives.

6.  Thanksgiving helps you sing(worship)!  If you have trouble singing, consider that it may have something to do with how grateful you are at this point in your life.

7.  Write a gratitude list.  Help yourself remember some concrete blessings in your life and hang on to your list in the storms of life!