A time of thankful hearts

It’s amazing to me all the choices that people make in their lives. People choose to be happy or sad, thankful or unthankful, and some can even choose to be rich or poor by the way they live. In most cases the attitude you choose to have is the attitude you end up developing.

Several years ago a letter appeared in the “Dear Abby” column. It stated: “Dear Abby: Happiness is knowing your parents won’t kill you if you come home a little later. Happiness is having your own bedroom. Happiness is getting the telephone call you have been praying for. Happiness is something I don’t have!” It was signed: Healthy, but unhappy and ungrateful.

A few days later a second letter appeared: “Dear Abby: Happiness is being able to walk; happiness is being able to talk. Happiness is being able to see. Happiness is being able to hear. Unhappiness is reading a letter from a 15-year old girl who can do all these things and still says she is unhappy. I can talk, I can see, I can hear, but I can’t walk.” That letter was signed: 13 and happy and grateful for life.

Happiness and thanksgiving are choices that I hope we all make especially during the “Thanksgiving” season of this year. God has done so much for our country and our well-being. Give Him the praise during His season of joy and hope. Choose to be a thankful person as opposed to an ungrateful one. So much of life is not what we have to deal with, but how we deal with it.

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (I Thessalonians 5:16-18) Paul was writing this even though he had many tough experiences. He had made the choice to be thankful. How can we be happy in all circumstances? We can’t!!! It doesn’t say to be happy, but to give thanks to God in all circumstances. Notice, it doesn’t say to be thankful for, but to be thankful in!!! God wants us to remember that there’s always something that we can be grateful for. Count your blessings and name them one by one. Count your many blessing and see what God has done.

With all the flaws we have in our country, we have many things to be thankful for. One is the right to vote. I encourage everyone to exercise that right and vote next week.

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By Dr. Andy Spencer

Dr. Andy Spencer is the Senior Minister of First Church of Christ on Ledbetter Road in Xenia.