I do not know about you, but I cannot believe that it is almost November.  This year has really flown by.   Soon it will be Halloween and then Thanksgiving is right around the corner.  Thanksgiving is a great time for everyone to take a moment to think and reflect about how fortunate we are and to be intention to give thanks for what we have, who we are, and most importantly to our God who has provided everything.  This may seem like a no-brainer to take this time to give thanks, but it can be easy to overlook this simple task.

After all, when we watch the news, read the paper, or listen to talk radio—it seems like everything is going in the wrong direction.  There is much angst in the air.  There is unrest in much of the world.  Within our own country—each side of the political spectrum blames each other.  Tea Party enthusiast blame the president and big government.  Occupy Wall Street protestors blames wall street types, the rich and industry leaders.  And still others, blame all of the government (both sides) for arguing and not doing anything but getting paid for doing nothing.  The economy is still sagging, jobs are still difficult to come bye, personal debt is rising, national debt is rising, the housing market is still soft, and on and on we could go on.

With all of this, it can be easy to echo the words of Eyeore—‘Woe is me.’  With everything going on it is easy to feel sorry for ourselves and pile on the complaints of the rest of the world.

However, as we get closer to Thanksgiving, we should resist this notion of just seeing all doom and gloom and be able to look beyond everything to be able to see that God is still the one who is over all—and to give thanks for what God has done.

The classic Thanksgiving text is the story of the healing of the ten lepers.  Within the story, Jesus heals all ten lepers—however only one comes back to give thanks to Jesus for healing him.  We do not know why the other 9 do not come back to say thank you to Jesus.  Some may have been busy with getting back to their families or back to their lives prior to when they contracted leprosy.  I wonder if some may not have come back because they have been cast aside for so long, that they felt that they were entitled to something good happening to them and so when they received this gift of healing they simply went on with their lives—for the world owed this to them.  Do we sometimes have this attitude in our world today?

I challenge everyone over the next three weeks to be very intentional to take time to give thanks for everything.  Give thanks to God for all that God has done.  Give thanks to your family for all that they have done for you.  Give thanks to your neighbors for what they have done for you.  Give thanks to people you work for and with.  Give thanks to others that have expressed kindness to you.  Give thanks!