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Here in Canada this is Thanksgiving Day, and we often meld it with a harvest celebration that spans the entire weekend. On Saturday we visited an amazing Okanagan farm where we were surrounded with many kinds of produce, both decorative and edible, plus a number of farm animals that delighted the youngsters.
There’s an old hymn that says, “Count your many blessings; name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.” Topping my list this year would be friends, family and the recent birth of our very first great grandchild. Over this four day holiday we will have attended one baby shower, a birthday celebration and not one, but three family turkey dinners! Family is precious, and we love coming together for these special occasions.
But I can’t ignore the many other daily blessings, too, especially the faith that is continually renewed through our Saviour, who is the Living Word, the Light of the world and the source of all that we have and are.
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Counting blessings is a good thing. During difficult and not-so-celebratory times it might be easy to think we don’t have much for which to be thankful, but it’s important to acknowledge the less obvious things. Once we start counting them we discover it’s hard to stop, because blessings invade every part of our existence. Ann Voskamp encourages us to participate in counting “1,000 blessings” by keeping an ongoing numbered list — I know she’s already well beyond the first thousand as she finds joy in the surprising sweetness of even the least significant everyday things.
It’s good to be thankful, but it’s not enough to just count our blessings. The message on our illuminated church sign this weekend says it all:
“How we use our blessings is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”
What blessings would top your list this Thanksgiving? And how will/do you respond to them?
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LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what are mere mortals that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
[Psalm 8:1-9]
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