Day 26

Have I mentioned that I love my Jesus Calling devotion by Sarah Young?  God gave her such an amazing way to share His truth through this book.  And it should be no surprise that the devotions this week focus on thankfulness since we just celebrated Thanksgiving, so they are especially encouraging to me in my thankfulness journey.  This morning, I tweeted a quote from Jesus Calling (while I'm not doing much on Twitter yet, I am on there and you can follow me @HeatherSniderKY).  Here's my tweet:  When your mind is occupied with thanking Jesus, you have no time for worrying or complaining. #jesuscalling B thankful http://thethankfulnessexperiment.blogspot.com

Pretty good stuff, right?  Well, God was giving me some good advice this morning... that I quickly forgot by the afternoon.  My day started out great with a super productive meeting regarding the mom's group at my church.  The ladies who lead it are both godly and wise and I'm so blessed to have them serving in this ministry.  I made a quick stop at the grocery, got my three year old down for his nap.  Got my quiet time with God and even had time leftover to get some work done on the computer.  And I got my black dress in the mail today, just in time for a date night with my hubby tomorrow. (Remember, the one I left in the hotel closet?  Check out the whole story on Day 18.)  But somewhere along the way, I turned into Oscar the Grouch.  Not for any particular reason that I could pinpoint... but it happened.  And I couldn't shake it.  My hubby even noticed and asked why I was grumpy.  I had to apologize to the boys for being harsh.  Yuck!  So much for keeping my mind occupied with thanking Jesus.  I didn't do so great today. 

So once again, I'm haunted by what the Bible says about being thankful.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us to "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."  I'm supposed to give thanks all the time, regardless of my circumstances... regardless of whether I feel like it.  The benefits of giving thanks are spectacular... and I've experienced these benefits during the first 26 days of the experiment, yet I can quickly choose to wallow and complain and feel sorry for myself.  I didn't splash some thankfulness sunshine on my circumstances today (see Day 11) and the result was Oscar the Grouch. 

I'm so very thankful that God does not expect perfection from me.  I'm so glad that God extends His grace to me when I mess up.  So as I'm confessing my lack of thanksgiving today to you, I'm also confessing it to God and I know that He forgives me.  "Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23  I can have a fresh start right now, and for that, I am thankful.  Just like God doesn't expect perfection from me with this thankfulness stuff, He doesn't expect perfection from you either.  We're learning how "to give thanks in all circumstances" together.   Thank You, God, for giving us second, and third, and fourth, and infinite chances to grow and learn how to be thankful.  We truly are blessed by our Lord whose love never fails. 

Today, I am thankful for...

1.  God's amazing grace when I fail to choose thankfulness
2.  Hot tea warming my hands
3.  How orange peel in the garbage disposal creates instant air freshener
4.  Meeting with two amazing ladies to plan our mom's group for 2013
5. Getting my black dress in the mail
6.  Watching the boys delight as the North Pole Express train circled our Christmas tree

Here's to 10,000 reasons... Only 7,144 to go...