#thankful

For all of you United Statesians, it’s official. Google has changed their logo to a cornucopia filled with fall foods, Snapchat has a new filter featuring leaves and a turkey, the Macy’s Parade has begun, and I smell rolls baking in the morning. It’s Thanksgiving.

This is one of my favorite holidays because it’s 100% focused on family and coming together. While Christmas is “The Most Wonderful Time of Year” (in my opinion), there are a lot of extra elements that go into the Christmas season like spending money on presents, the politics of separate holidays, Santa, and even Hallmark movies that can distract from the family focus of the holiday season. But Thanksgiving doesn’t have those kinds of distractions (except for Black Friday, of course). This allows Thanksgiving’s only focus to be on what it was originally intended to represent: being appreciative for the things around you.

It’s so wonderful to be able to be surrounded by the people that you love while remembering all of the reasons that you love to be alive. It’s really a great way to reset your heart and mind and put the focus back on what we have, rather than on what we don’t. After the challenge that I was on this last week, I’ve really had a change of perspective. (Don’t know what I’m talking about? Check out the post here.) It’s not that I have more to be thankful for after I did that challenge. It’s just that I realize how much more I have always had to be thankful for.

I can be thankful because of the amount of food I have to eat, for sure. As compared to those in poverty, I feast every single day, but especially on a food filled day like this. I can be thankful because, even though the home that I’m in isn’t the home I’m used to, I still have a home to live in and family that loves me. I can be thankful for the amazing friends that I have and thankful that the friends I haven’t seen in years are doing well. I have so much to be thankful for.

I want to encourage you guys to use today as an opportunity to remember all of the things that you’re thankful for, but I always want to remind you to “be thankful in all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) and to remember those that have less to be thankful for than we do.

Praying for you and hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Best of luck in the real world and God Bless!
-XTopher