Make Room For Praise This Thanksgiving

As we approach the end of the year we, at least I, seem to find myself running from event-to-event, with Christmas parties, shopping, extra grocery store runs and more. It seems that from November until January it’s a never ending bustle of chores, tasks that need completed, peppered with fun times. If we are not careful, we can tend to sail through this time of year, and if we are lucky, we might pause for a few minutes on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day to reflect on something we are genuinely thankful for, then hurry about our day. Instead of running around, never giving all that is going on a second thought, maybe we should set out each day to intentionally make room for praise.

Several years ago I heard about a little thing called “The Blessing Box.” I’m convinced that there are so many blessings we miss each and every day simply because we have conditioned ourselves to not see them. One way around this is to begin to train yourself to not only see the blessings God sends our way, but to actually anticipate them; to watch for them in advance.

Here’s how it works:

• Take a used Kleenex box and decorate it. That will mean covering it with paper and then having fun with it. Make it special.

• Next, find a prominent place for it in your home, somewhere that you will see every day and that you will have easy access to.

• Place some scrap paper or a small note pad by your Blessing Box and something to write with. — You are now on your way.

Now that your box is completed you are ready to go. So each day as you set out to work, run errands, shopping, or whatever, be on the lookout for blessings. They are there, we just miss them because we are not looking for them. Some may be small blessings while others may be huge blessings. However, there are no insignificant blessings. God sends blessings our way each and every day. At first they may be hard to recognize, but as time goes by, you will begin to see them more and more.

So when you see a blessing, recognize it and thank God for it. If it’s one you really want to remember, if it impacted you in a certain way, or maybe it was just an “ah ha” moment — when you get home, go to your blessing box and write it down, sign it, date it, and place it in the box. This goes for everyone in the family, all the blessings go into the same box.

Now the fun begins — next year when Thanksgiving comes around, after you have eaten until you are stuffed, after you have played the games, watched the games, visited with friends and family; after all the “hoopla” of the day is over, settle down with your loved ones and pull out your Blessing Box.

There’s a song that I’ve often sung that goes like this:

Count your blessings name them one by one

Count your blessings see what God has done

Count your blessings … name them one by one

Count your many blessings see what God has done

So with all of your family participating in the Blessing Box throughout the year, it’s now time to “Count your blessings, and just see what God has done.” As you pass the Blessing Box around the circle, each member will pull out a blessing. It doesn’t matter if it is theirs or not. They will then read who it is from, the date and read the blessing. Then the person who wrote it can respond if they so desire or simply pass. This will go on until all the blessings have been read.

Here is what you will find: By the time you are done everyone will filled with joy, realizing just how rich we are with God’s blessings. In our family, many tears were shed as we recounted how God showed Himself powerful in our lives. And as we count our blessings, as we name them one by one, our hearts will be truly filled with thanksgiving, as we have made from for genuine heartfelt praise to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Have a blessed Thanksgiving and holiday season.