If the stores in our area are anything to go by, Thanksgiving is going the way of the pilgrims. We’re too busy, it seems, to linger in gratitude when there’s so much out there to get. X-mas trees (I can’t call them “Christmas”) appeared the afternoon of Halloween, and Thanksgiving’s treated as a signpost for Black Friday.
How can we be thankful?
How am I supposed to give thanks when I’m accosted day and night with things I don’t have but might get, if only I play my cards right with Santa?
Thank God for the Psalms, which help us lift our hearts from whatever they are mired in and open them to God. “In everything give thanks,” St Paul told the Ephesians (5:20). “In everything” includes not only times of joy and hardship and pain but also times of busy-ness. A thankful heart is a powerful antidote to self-seeking, self-indulgence, self-pity, self-[fill in the blank]. And the Psalms show us why and how to do get a thankful heart: by giving thanks. Make the effort to offer thanks and praise, and your heart will follow and be filled with joy.
Just do it!
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“The feeling of joy begins in the action of thanksgiving.”
(Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts)
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5 Thanksgiving Psalms to pray this week
This Thanksgiving week, let’s cut through the pre-X-mas hype by filling every day with thanks. Here are five psalms to do that with, and a hymn of praise to close out the week before turning to our own “official” Thanksgiving feast, the Mass (Eucharistia is Greek for thanksgiving).
Read these Psalms on your own, or join me on facebook if you want to share your thoughts each day:
Monday: Psalm 100
Tuesday: Psalm 107
Wednesday: Psalm 118
Thursday: Psalm 138
Friday: Psalm 136
Saturday: the Te Deum (learn about and read it here)
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© 2017 Sarah Christmyer
Check out other posts about praise and thanksgiving here:
- Thanks-Giving: the Door to Happy Holidays
- Giving Thanks in Good Times and in Bad
- Practicing Gratitude — Grace Before Meals
- Thanks (for Nothing?) Learn the Power of Praise
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Thanksgiving — Giving thanks!!!💞🙏💞
I am struck with the instructions to come before him SINGING. Even when in a dark situation. Perhaps particularly in a dark situation. It signals true faith in the unseen-as-yet answers from God who is always good, all of the time. This becomes a demonstration before all of Heaven and hell. This becomes part of our battle — with Christ as LORD of HOSTS!
Is this the place to respond or is there another place?
Thanks for including me.
Always thought Thanksgiving’s Day was a marvelous idea. As an immigrant from the Netherlands I celebrated my first Thanksgiving’s Day in the hospital having given birth to my daughter the day before. I learned from the nurses and doctors about the origin of this day and was in awe that this was made an official holiday to thank God for His goodness and gifts. So many things to be thankful for! Give thanks to Him always.