Here’s a challenge to show an attitude of gratitude, not just this week of Thanksgiving but all year long. Of course, Thanksgiving is a great reminder to focus on the many blessings God has given us. It’s more than being thankful to Mom for cooking a great holiday feast!
So here’s my challenge: Take time between now and Thursday to write down 100 things for which you’re thankful. This is something I do every year since I read this suggestion in a book. I write it in my journal, and it usually takes a couple of days.
I begin, as I’m sure any believer would, for being thankful for salvation, and as an American for the freedoms we enjoy. I then express my thankfulness for family and friends, one by one by name.
I challenge you to put this on social media and to email it to friends. Let’s encourage thousands to have an attitude of gratitude. And then in the comment section below, list something below for which you are thankful (It need not be your list of 100—that’s just for you).
We’ll go over the comments and pick the 10 that stand out as being most special. As a thank you for saying thank you, we’ll send those 10 a free copy of Dr. R.T. Kendall’s book, Just Say Thanks.
By the way, in issuing this challenge, I’m following historical precedent. It was a magazine editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book named Sarah Josepha Hale who for 15 years challenged U.S. presidents to declare a national day of Thanksgiving. In 1863, she persuaded President Abraham Lincoln to declare the last Thursday in November as the “Day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival.”
Prior to this, each state scheduled its own Thanksgiving holiday at different times, mainly in New England and other Northern states. Of course, 74 years previously, George Washington became the first president to proclaim a day of thanksgiving, issuing his request on Oct. 3, 1789. But it did not become a national holiday.
You can click here to read Lincoln’s proclamation for “A day of Thanksgiving and Praise.”
And don’t forget to tell those in your life for whom you are thankful.
Steve Strang is the founding editor and publisher of Charisma. Follow him on Twitter @sstrang or Facebook (stephenestrang).
