What are you most thankful for? We make it so easy to in our lives to remember every bad or tragic thing that has happened to us that we forget or overlook the instances to be thankful. Can you make a list of 5 to 10 things that you’re thankful for? I bet you can tell me about every horrible thing that your boss has made you do over the last year, but you can’t remember too many good points without having to think about it. Our perspectives are skewed and this is meant to realign our own views back to what matters.

My wife, the other day, talked to me about wanting to start a new tradition this next year. It didn’t sound difficult when she described it and I figured it might bring back the joy we both had lost in our lives. The plan: each week we sit down together and write a list of 5 things we’re thankful for. “They don’t have to be huge, but they have to be things that we are thankful for,” she told me. The same is true for you if you want to follow along. The exercise isn’t meant to be an obstacle, rather it is meant to relieve stress and change your outlook on life.

CHALLENGE: Make a list of the 5-10 things you are thankful for each week, then share them with someone.

Salvation for Everyday

We wander through our daily lives get upset, frustrated, and downright angry at others for little annoying things, but we forget. As Christians, we should be thankful each and every day about what we have received.

“For God so loved the world, that He have his only Son, that whoever believes him Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Even the ultimate gift that we have received from God tends to be forgotten. We forget the thankful reward that sits in our hearts and which should permeate our very existence. We let it sit there on the shelf for special occasions, or when we think we need it because we need it when we should be living in that gift each and every day. Our attitude everyday should be like this verse from Psalms 118:21, “I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.”

The simple task that my wife wanted us to start doing rang so much louder in my ears when I saw the dots connect. It was the moment that I needed to start being thankful for everything in my life, not just the big moments that came along every so often. Trust me being bitter about circumstances is a big obstacle I face each and every day. I hold on to things and don’t dwell too much on being thankful for much of anything. The one who can give thanks in a little understands the importance of much when he is given it.