Gather to Give Thanks

I rarely sit down just to watch TV. But sometimes a story or a sentence or a phrase or even one word catches my attention as I pass a TV. For example, this week, I’ve heard the word Friendsgiving used by different people in various situations. I finally sat down long enough to look it up on the Internet. *

I learned that it was first used in 2007 but wasn’t added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary until January 2020. Basically, it’s the day you choose to celebrate an informal Thanksgiving with your friends. It can be in addition to or in lieu of the traditional Thanksgiving celebration you have with your family on the fourth Thursday in November.

I’m all for celebrating with friends as well as with family. But I hope that Friendsgiving and Thanksgiving gatherings will remind us to thank God for the loved ones and the countless other special blessings He sends into our lives every day.  May each celebration be more than an opportunity to stuff ourselves with delicious food or to show off our homes and cooking skills. May it be a time when all who gather together around a bountiful table gratefully acknowledge the One from whom all blessings come. May He be the Guest of Honor. May all that’s said and done be pleasing to Him.

*   https://www.delish.com/food-news/a33957858/what-is-friendsgiving/

Gifts Galore!

After reading Ann Voskamp's wonderful book, One Thousand Gifts Devotional, I decided to start my own list of 1,000 gifts. I purchased several inexpensive 6" x 9" notebooks at the local Dollar General store and began my list on August 2, 2014. Currently, I’ve listed over 5,000.

As I’m winding down each evening, I

mentally review the day, write down gift after gift (at least a page or two), and thank God for each one I list.

Ann Voskamp makes her entries throughout the day in a journal she keeps on her kitchen counter.


Another writer (Jim Stovall) maintains what he calls "The Golden List." Every morning he adds to it ten things for which he's thankful. 

How we maintain such a list is not the important thing. Becoming aware of and thankful for all the amazing things we already have transforms our attitude. We feel happier and more grateful. 

As we list our gifts day after day, we see how truly rich  we are, no matter our income level or the size of our house. Whining and envy and pessimism gradually disappear. Contentment and optimism increase as we train ourselves to focus on the good things in our life.

Although keeping a gratitude journal does require a few extra minutes of time each day, the time is well spent! 

God's Mercies

For You, O LORD, are good, 

and ready to forgive; 

and plenteous in mercy 

to all who call on You.

~David, Psalm 86:5

Thankful for Each Veteran!

Today, as in previous years, the annual Veterans Day Observance I attended included a reading* entitled, “What Is a Veteran?” According to its author, Anthony Barton Hinkle, the answers are as varied as the veterans themselves. A veteran may be the “old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket,” or “the parade-riding legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.” As Hinkle points out, “Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg – or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul’s alloy forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can’t tell a vet just by looking.”

As Hinkle so rightly concludes, a veteran “is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being – a person who offered some of his [or her] life’s most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.”

I’m very thankful for the service each veteran has given, and I’m glad that each November 11th people all over this great country assemble to pay tribute to them and to thank them for helping ensure the freedoms we enjoy.

*An editorial that first appeared in 1995 in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.