When Thanksgiving Becomes Thanksliving

It's the month of thankfulness in the United States. Driving today, I saw signs on everything from churches to businesses proclaiming, "Give thanks!"

And I should. I have so much.

I think of Christians in China, severely beaten for owning a non-state-regulated copy of the Scriptures, and my heart sinks to know how paltry is my own gratefulness for having not one but several copies of God's saving Word and for not being beaten for possessing them.

I think of Christians in North Korea, torn from their families for life - for *life* - and brutally worked to death in labor camps. And I remember how quickly my "thank You for my family" turns into frustration when serving them in some way interrupts my plans.

I think of street preachers in the UK and in Canada, fined beyond their means for proclaiming the full, naturally-offensive message of the Gospel -- because we must know how lost we are before we can be found. And my mind recollects how often I've secretly desired to store up treasures on earth.

And I wonder...

On Thursday, November 26th, 2015, I'll sing songs of praise to God, thanking Him from Whom all blessings flow. I'll pray and ask for God's blessing on our beautiful meal, my dear family. I'll spend time basking in the delightfulness of the Father God's mercies and grace, poured out in so many tangible and intangible ways.

And this is right and good.

But my thanksgiving *must* overflow daily in thanks-living - in the deliberate giving back of myself in thanksgiving to God, as a living sacrifice on His altar.

And if it doesn't overflow?

Then I have to ask: Is it real? Is it true thankfulness - or is it just a happy feeling that I have nice stuff and nice people around me who make me feel good?

May God change our hearts more and more to beat like His - that He would take my thankfulness and yours, that He would convert it in us to living utterly for Him, day-by-day, living out our thanks to Him.

Grace and peace,
Alicia