Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Habakkuk 3:17-18
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Seeing how the mentality of "Thanksgiving" can become so distorted in our society, by citing just the negative things that happened in history for our nation to be what it is, can seem to miss the point. Thanksgiving symbolizes not just a historical look back but a grateful look back as to what God has done and is doing. Sadly in our country, as belief in God is being discouraged by the "loud minority" and seen as irrelevant, they will tragically find no one to be thankful to for all they have.

Thanksgiving is a good reminder for us to be thankful to God for everything that has happened in our lives, if we believe His ways are best (1 Thessalonians 5 v18). Though that may be hard to come to grips with given the kind of year we may have had, God knows that bitterness is the enemy to gratitude and joy in Him. So we must, even if it takes struggling to do so, find a way to be thankful to God for knowing Him and that things are not worse.

The gospel reminds us that as long as we are in a relationship with Christ we have the greatest gift to be thankful for in salvation. Nothing on this earth is promised to last and give us security, joy, and satisfaction except Christ. Given we have so much, it can cloud our hearts from being thankful to what ultimately matters. That’s why I believe God allows us to be disappointed in temporary relationships and things, to lead us eventually to realize that salvation is all we need for joy and contentment. So let us strive to be thankful to God, in a world so discontented, it will surely witness to those who have everything they need and no one they should give unconditional thanks to.

In His Love, Ld