Gratitude

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I am sure it has something to do with the season, but really it has to do more with where it forces me to focus. Too often I focus on what I need, or what I would like to see changed in my life, or what I still don't have, or what I am still struggling with instead of on what He has shown me, mercy. As Thanksgiving approaches this year, I am conscious of the benefit I have received (the meaning of being thankful). I am grateful to God and His great mercy towards me. Take a moment and meditate on the words of Charles Spurgeon:

"The fear of a man who really knows the love and goodness of God, will be somewhat of this kind: He will fear lest he should really be, or should seem to be, ungrateful. 'What' he asks, 'can I do? I am drowned in mercy. It is not as though my ship were sailing in a sea of mercy; I have been so loaded with the favour of the Lord that my vessel has gone right down, and the ocean of God’s love and mercy has rolled right over the masthead. What can I do O Lord? If thou had given me only a little mercy, I might have done something, in return, to express my gratitude. But oh! Thy great mercy in electing me, in redeeming me, in converting me, and in preserving me, and in all the goodness of thy providence toward me;--what can I do in return for all these favour? I feel struck dumb; and I am afraid, lest I should have a dumb heart as well as a dumb tongue; I fear lest I should grieve Thee by anything that looks like ingratitude.”