Give Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio
   

1 Chronicles 16:34

Give thanks to the LORD, 

for he is good; 

his love endures forever.

Happy Thanksgiving for those of you who are reading this post on Thursday!
I'm a little late posting it - what can I say I've been trying to maintain a stress free kitchen. I've only had to kick my husband out once for going off on the dogs.  Its no wonder we do this meal only once a year. Its amazing how much prep work is involved in the traditional American Thanksgiving meal. Potatioes to peal, turkey to stuff, cranberries to cook, green bean cassarole to mix together. I think I've been in the kitchen since about 9am and its now noon and I am finally back to my computer to try and get this post written. Everything is prepped at this point and just needs to go in at the propper intervals to get cooked on time. In general I have tried to keep things pretty low key. Family memebers have all helped in various ways through out the moring to the back drop of the Macy's parade.

Our day will include playing some of our favorite games. I think we watched more movies than humanly possible yesterday but I was glad for old familar favorites that I could sleep through part of the movie and still know what was going on. I just needed to veg a bit yesterday.  I'm still a bit tired and I know I have been pushing myself to much in the past few months and will need to find some ways to find a more reasonable pace. Some things are done, I finished my coaching training, I will keep writing daily posts but I'm not too worried about actually hitting the 50,000 words for National Novel Writing Month. It will be interesting to see how many words I did manage. The Public Market,  I had thought I would try to be there every week through the holidays and I think I will scale that back to just one week in December and be there the 15th - 17th. Most of my actual mosaics are listed on my Artfire site for those who want mosaic gifts. I may do some specials that I post on my face book page.  So I am thankful that there are things that I can adjust up or down. I tend to be kind of scattered in my approach to life. It works for me. I have a circle of things that I rotate through. Writing used to be one of those things. This devotional has moved writing to being a everyday thing in my life. Working on mosaics has become a nearly everyday kind of thing. Music is kind of in the background presently, other than keeping up with piano at a kind of minimal level.  Homeschooling is in more of a matinence mode, the kids are pretty much set up to move through thier work on thier own most of the time. Other things move up or down depending on my energy and inspiration level.

I am thankful for the concept of pacing I learned as a cross country runner while in highschool. Learning to pace yourself has a lot to do with actually making it to the end of the race.  There are times that you have to slow things down a bit and other times when you need to run hard. I've been running pretty hard and I need to slow that pace down for a bit. Even when I slow things down I don't ever loose site of the goals that I am reaching for. Its important to keep moving in the right direction and not get off track chasing rabbit trails that lead to nothing. So I am thankful for lessons learned along the way that I am able to put to use as I continue forward.

It was suggested to me that I did not necessarily need to write long posts every day to accomplish the goal of writing daily for this devotional. Funny the things that can get past me.

I liked this quote by Harvard Professor and author, Shawn Achor

“Countless studies have shown that consistently grateful people are more energetic, emotionally intelligent, forgiving and less likely to be depressed, anxious or lonely. 

And it’s not that people are only grateful because they are happier, either; gratitude has proven to be a significant cause of positive outcomes.  When researchers pick random volunteers and train them to be more grateful over a period of a few weeks, they become happier and more optimistic, feel more socially connected, enjoy better quality sleep, and even experience few headaches than control groups." 

So I will encourage you to Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
Take some time to write down a few things each day that you are thankful for this past week or this past year. It really does help you look at other things with a more optimistic outlook.

So I am going to take that advise today, that it is ok to write a shorter post and call this one good.
I wish all of my readers a wonderful Thanksgiving. Enjoy your families or the friends you are spending this day with. I'm off to go enjoy mine. Thanks for reading!!!

Prayer:
Dear Lord, Today and everyday help us to cultivate a heart that is thankful. That we would thank you no only for the obvious blessings in our life but for the hard things that we face and the character that those difficulties are developing in us.


 

Counting Your Blessings

A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Psalms 40:5

Many, O LORD my God, 
are the wonders you have done. 
The things you planned for us 
no one can recount to you; 
were I to speak and tell of them, 
they would be 
too many to declare.




Did you catch in todays verse where it says..."The things you planned for us no one can recount to you: were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare."  Have you stopped lately to count your blessings. All the undeserved things that happen each and every day in our lives. There are so many things that we take for granted. Yet God has lavished His love upon us in the beauty of the sunset or sunrise.  The wonders of creation. The smile of a friend, a kind word. There are thousands of little ordinary miracles that happen each day. Perhaps you can explain many of them away to natural causes and perhaps they are just little gifts of grace that touch our lives in a million little ways.

Proverbs 17:22  The Message "²² A cheerful disposition is good for your health;
   gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.

Amplified Bible 17:22²²A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.'

 Thankfulness is a powerful thing. There have been difficult seasons when I would make a point to wake up and think of things I was thankful for. Thankfulness sets your mind and heart on a different path than a complaining or grumbling heart. We need to stir up the gifts that God has put inside us. We need to stir up our thankfulness. Its easy to get weighed down in depression, discouragement to the point that we wear it around like a wet blanket. We stand there pitiful, wet and cold and wish someone would come join us in our pity party. I don't mean to make light of anyones troubles but often the biggest adjustment that needs made is to our attitude. 
Put on the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness.  Which reminds me of this song that I am too tired tonight to try and record. So here is a link to a nice version someone did on you tube. I like the flags at the end.


If you are getting this in your e-mail you will need to click the blue title to get back to the devotional site to view the video.

Some more verses to think about today. Note that "And be thankful." at the end of Colossians 3:15
Don't just let Christ rule your heart and live at peace. Those things are followed by a very strong "And be thankful" You can start with being thankful that the peace of Christ does rule in your heart.

Colossians 3:15 NIV 1984  "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful."

Philippians 2 reminds us  ¹⁴ Do everything without complaining or arguing, ¹⁵ so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe

I like it in The Message starting with 13b Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.
 ^14-16Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I'll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You'll be living proof that I didn't go to all this work for nothing. 

I believe as we go through the ups and the downs of life that people around us are watching. If we can begin to cultivate a lifestyle of thankfulness, and joy not just in good times but in the hard times as well. Our lives become a testimony of the power of God at work in us.  I love the line in the verse above that says That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.  Our God is a gentleman and waits to be invited by us into the situations of our life.  God is doing the work in us, he wants to provide the energy and the will to do the things he desires for us.


What are some things that you are thankful for?

Is there anyone or anything that you have been taking for granted?

Why might it please God for us to come to him with a thankful heart?

Are there things that you are complaining about that you might want to look at from a different vantage point. Maybe ask God what He is using it to work in you?


Prayer:
Dear Lord,
You do so much for us every day. There are so many things that we have grown accustomed to that we over look them or take them for granted. Lord help us remember those things. Help us more and more find reasons to be thankful for all that you do. Even in the midst of the trials we are facing help us to see the fingerprints of your love and mercy. Help us to be doers of the word and not those who just let it go in one ear and out the other. Help us more and more put it into practice in our lives. Help us catch ourselves when we might begin to complain and turn it around and find a reason to thank you.