Thanksgiving: The Thankfulness Competition

   Picture that you are in a room with children. Children are great but sometimes children complain, a lot. In this room the children are complaining. They say things like: "I'm hungry," "I'm thirsty," "it's too hot," "why do we need to be here?" You parents out there have probably had a time where your kids were saying things like this. It is really draining to hear people complain like this. What can you do in these situations?
   Jud Wilhite has an answer in his book The God of Yes. His children were complaining like this during a car ride when all of the sudden he yelled, "thankfulness competition!" They would go in a circle and say things they were thankful for. The first person who could not think of something lost. Doing this got them focused on the things they had rather than what they did not have at the moment.
   This world is filled with people who complain when they have so much to be thankful for. As Christians we are called to be set apart, and yet many times it’s the Christians who do the most complaining. This Thanksgiving I encourage you to look at what you have rather than look at what you don't have. Maybe even have a thankfulness competition at your house this year.

   1 Thessalonians 5:18, Colossians 3:15-17, Psalm 107:1
   Image from here.