2013 Thankfullness Tree

We have so much to be thankful for, it seems tragic that most of us only think to be thankful one month out of the year.  Be that as it may, we do a Thankful craft/project each year.  We started in 2010 when it began to make more sense to Bear and she could understand more what the word even meant.

What does thankful mean?  Everyone goes around throwing that word out there.  How many of us think about what it means?  To be thankful is to be aware and appreciative of a benefit; grateful.

Ephesians 5:20 pretty much sums it up for Christians, "Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."  God gives us everything and we should always be thankful.  We know this, but are we actually aware and appreciate fully what God has done for us? This may not be popular, but I don't think we really do, and that is tragic on our parts.  We are unable to fully grasp his love.   He created a universe that operates beyond our understanding.  We try to understand, but we can't truly grasp it.  He created a earth that sustains life and even encourages it.  A few nano-milliliters in either direction and life would be unsustainable they say.  He gave his Son, Jesus Christ, to be born, live, die, and raise again so that we might have eternal life.  He created smiles, flowers petals, dandelions, and puppies to bring wonder and love to our days.  I wonder why we aren't constantly on bended knee, in prayer of thanksgiving.  We can't out do God. 

With all that, I do want to share our attempt or recognizing and contemplating a small fraction of what we are thankful for this year. 

I encourage you and your family to develop a tradition to mark the thanks that you have in your family for all that God the Father has blessed you with.  You are truly blessed, even if it doesn't feel like it sometimes.  Our year has not been what many would term "free from trials and tribulations" yet when sitting back, we can easily see we have been blessed.  As we go forward, to paraphrase our preachers sermon on Sunday, lets see it as a NOW thing.  Lets recognize the fact in the here and now that we are in the midst of being blessed.  Too often we see it in the past tense, lets see it in the present tense!  WE ARE BLESSED.