Begin by expressing gratefulness to God--both personally and as a family. There are countless reasons for which we should be thankful to God so think deeply and thoughtfully. Make thankfulness a focus of your personal time with God and then, before you eat the main meal together, spend time as a family praying and expressing thanks to God. A helpful suggestion might be to go around the room and ask everyone to share one thing from this past year for which they'd like to thank God.
Take today as an opportunity to say thank you to your parents. Some of you reading this will have already lost your parents to death and you can still remember them with gratefulness. But if your parents are alive, thank them. Be specific. As a parent myself I tend to remember and focus on my failures. Our gratefulness can bless our parents and encourage them that they did some things right.
Who has invested time and energy in your life? Who went out of their way to pour into you and help you become who you are today? Have you ever thanked them? Take this day to make a phone call or write a note that says "thank you for helping me become who I became!" When I was in college I met a pastor by the name of Sam Tatem. I can't even remember how we met, but Sam would often write me notes of encouragement and those notes meant more to me than I can even explain to you. Sam is gone now, and I can't tell him personally, but there are others who helped me become who I am. Mark Griffith, Chip Phillips and Don Frensley are some of the men who poured into me.
Has anyone loved you when you were unlovely? Anyone stuck by you when you were being stupid and really deserved to be abandoned? Today is Thanksgiving-- say thank you to that person. Call them and tell them how much it means to you that they didn't give up on you.
Are you a Christ-follower? Who led you to Jesus? Today would be a good day to thank them. Did someone disciple you? Help you to grow as a Christian? Why not write them a note or give them a call and say thank you?
Today is a day to give thanks-- let's actually do it. There is nothing wrong with football, feast and family but let's go further and make this a day of true "Thanks-Giving!"
