Giving Thanks 365 Days A Year

We celebrated the holiday of Thanksgiving yesterday with family and friends most of us praying for the blessings we have received.  We then sat down to a great meal which many of us were fortunate to have.  That meal reminded me of a commitment I made  to be less self serving and more of a servant to others.  That commitment is captured eloquently by the following quote from Nelson Mandela:

"We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination."

Thanksgiving is a not simply a day to give thanks, but to a day in which we should all remind ourselves of the hope we have and should continue to have at a time where for many, things may seem hopeless.  As a Christian I believe that faith without works is dead, in other words our actions speak to how committed we are to our faith.  It is what each of us does each and every day to address the poverty within our communities, the suffering many are enduring from the youngest to the oldest, and the discrimination many are facing because of the color of their skin, their particular gender, and even the uniform they wear that helps eliminate hopelessness.  Living this way each and every day is truly an act of Thanksgiving we should all practice.

Imagine the impact we would have on the world if we committed ourselves to doing more for others than ourselves, to loving unconditionally thus approaching others in a spirit of love instead of condemnation.  The Christ in which I believe did not come to condemn the world but to open a door called grace, unmerited favor, through which anyone could enter into the hope of salvation, new beginnings, and an unquenchable desire to love and care for others.

Our faith and love for others can help move them from hopelessness to hopefulness.  In Colossians Chapter 1, verses 3 to 5, we are reminded that faith and love spring up from hope.  It is in the hopefulness each of us have for a tomorrow that is brighter and better for all, that we can then practice a faith and love that touches the lives of those around us helping them to have hope.  Let’s celebrate Thanksgiving every day as a reminder of all we have to be thankful for and how we can inspire hope in others.  Just a little advice to go.