Whatever Is Excellent with Leanne Tuggle
Encouragement and Inspiration for women choosing to rise above the “just survive” mentality and instead set their mind on thriving in all that they say and do. The ultimate goal is to equip you to pursue whatever is excellent in the midst of your ordinary life and in all that you say and do.
Whatever Is Excellent with Leanne Tuggle
12: A Journey to Genuine Thankfulness
Unlock the transformative power of genuine gratitude this Thanksgiving. Have the words "grateful, thankful, blessed" lost their true significance for you amidst the barrage of social media trends?
Join me as we journey back to the origins of Thanksgiving, drawing life-changing insights from the gratitude practices of the pilgrims and Israelites. Inspired by Jesus' act of giving thanks before feeding 5,000 people, we uncover how true gratitude invites miracles and transforms our lives beyond superficial expressions.
Embrace gratitude as a potent remedy against life's negativity. We explore biblical teachings from 2 Timothy 3:2 and Psalm 136:1 to highlight the enduring power of thankfulness, even in challenging times. Discover a simple, yet profound practice: a gratitude jar that encourages year-round recognition of blessings, nurturing a spirit of thankfulness in our families. Let's enrich our Thanksgiving celebrations with feasts, prayers, and the ultimate gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, embarking on a journey toward perpetual gratitude.
Reading Resources for you:
Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World by Kristen Welch
One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
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Grateful, thankful, blessed. It's a hashtag. It's on wooden signs at Hobby Lobby. It's even on the tea towel that is over your rising sourdough bread right now.
Leanne:I think it's safe to say those three words are a bit overused, especially in the month of November. And because this phrase is overused, the meaning behind the words has been lost. What do those words even mean? The word gratitude is a personal feeling or mindset. It's an internal, ongoing sense of appreciation that can be directed toward people, circumstances or life in general. To be grateful means feeling appreciation for something received. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is often a more external expression of gratitude. It's the outward act of giving thanks, which means expressing appreciation in words or actions. Being thankful often implies a sense of relief or happiness, and blessed generally conveys a sense of being favored, protected or fortunate. So if you were to put it all together, you could say you feel gratitude, so you express thanksgiving and, as a result, you are blessed. And yet social media has made this phrase trendy rather than meaningful, thus making it seem less genuine when spoken or expressed.
Leanne:How can we be grateful, thankful and blessed without sounding like a cliche? We can start by remembering that the first Thanksgiving was a genuine outpouring of the gratitude the pilgrims felt for God's provision in the new land. This celebration lasted for about three days and it included much feasting and prayer. And way before that Thanksgiving celebration, the Israelites sang songs of Thanksgiving after God delivered them from the hands of Pharaoh by parting the Red Sea, and you can read that story in Exodus, chapter 15. Both of these examples reveal that thankfulness directly correlated with the provision of God, and that provision was nothing that could have been achieved on their own. All throughout the Old Testament you can find examples of the Israelites feasting and remembering God's grace and provision. The book of Psalms is full of songs about Thanksgiving and feelings of gratitude.
Leanne:So how have we moved from this genuine feeling of gratitude to this cliche? I believe it's because we have forgotten to remember. We hustle and bustle through our days and rush from thing to thing without a moment to slow down and truly reflect on all that God has done for us. Maybe we reflect for a moment or two. On Thanksgiving day, you might even go around the table and share one thing you're grateful for, maybe two, and then you're on to dessert and football games. Right, the practice of remembering has been lost over the years. Instead, we use these hashtags when something good happens in our lives, and then we choose to be more concerned with appearing grateful and less invested in the remembering part.
Leanne:In the remembering part, 1, thessalonians 5, 16-18 says this Rejoice always, pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. In everything give thanks. That's the part we've forgotten to remember. We thank the Lord for the good, but we forget to thank Him in everything and in all circumstances, because that's hard. And then we see in Philippians 4, 6, it says be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Jesus actually gave us the best example of this verse just before he fed the 5,000. Instead of being worried about how he was going to feed all of these people, he gave thanks for what he did have. And then the miracle happened. Thanksgiving, in this case, came before the provision.
Leanne:It seems like Thanksgiving is more important than we give it credit for, doesn't it? God is worthy of our Thanksgiving and praise. When we take time to remember that he is in control and he loves to give good gifts, like it says in James 1.17, we take the focus off of ourselves and our selfish desires and then, no matter what is happening in our lives, good or bad, we are able to praise the Lord for his goodness and love and mercy. We take time to remember and we begin to see how much we really do have, especially when the consumer, materialistic side of Christmas is right around the corner, like the next day. I think it is important to note that the enemy would love nothing more than to have us forget to remember all that God has done for us. He loves that.
Leanne:Phrases like grateful, thankful and blessed have become cliche, and complaining about everything and choosing to be ungrateful is actually a sign of the last days. 2 Timothy 3.2 says. Second Timothy 3.2 says For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful and unholy. So let's do something crazy this Thanksgiving and choose to remember. Let's choose to remember all that God has done in our lives and all of the good gifts he has given us. Let's look for ways that we can be thankful even in the midst of grief and hardship. Let's choose to be content and remember what Psalm 136.1 says give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His steadfast love endures forever, and let's choose to raise grateful children, children who practice remembering and celebrating God's goodness with Thanksgiving and feasting and prayer.
Leanne:One idea that our family is going to try, starting this Thanksgiving, is to keep a jar full of things that we are grateful for all throughout the year, and then next year, on Thanksgiving, we can take turns reading the slips of paper and remembering the goodness and provision of God. It will be fun to spend time remembering those things that happened all year long and to celebrate with a feast of Thanksgiving. May this Thanksgiving be the starting point of your remembering journey. However that looks for your family. May you decide to be grateful all throughout the year, in everything. May you be thankful even in hard circumstances, hard circumstances, and may you be blessed because you remember that the greatest gift of all is eternal life in Jesus Christ. Happy Thanksgiving, dear friends. We have so much to be thankful for, don't we?