Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church

“Humility, shaped by gratitude, comes before honor,” says the Lord.  (Proverbs 15:33).  Once I was standing in line at a business and noticed that on the other side of the counter stood the teller talking to her supervisor.  Together they were looking at her computer screen, and then she exclaimed, “Welcome to my world.”  The teller claimed the opportunity to bring her supervisor into her world, her set of problems.  From this situation, the employee hoped her supervisor would better understand the context & challenges of her work … 

Wisely, the supervisor smiled and nodded supportively.  All of us want to be understood.  If we feel like we are doing our best, we want our life & efforts to be appreciated.  During this Thanksgiving, say thanks to the people who make “your world” a better place to live & work.

Thanksgiving is a conditioning exercise of the soul to use our gratitude muscles with words and actions so people who have blessed us know that what they have done for us made a positive difference in our lives.

How?

By picking up a pen to write a gratitude-note;

By sitting at your computer and sending a gratitude e-mail;

By picking up the telephone to make a gratitude-call;

By dropping to our knees to offer a gratitude-prayer;

By doing for another as has been done for us.

May the wonder of God and the joy of people bring awareness to our hearts, so that - regardless of our life conditions - we will overflow in gratitude and awareness.

Thanksgiving, as an American tradition, was begun by the Pilgrims and confirmed by Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War.  Knowing our human tendency toward self-gratification and resentment, our forefathers and foremothers built into our American calendar an annual rhythm for us to step outside our individual agendas and into a national agenda for God to heal our souls.

Thanksgiving is the season of soul submission to God through prayer and gratitude.

As you gather with friends & family on Thanksgiving Day, build into your shared experience a time for giving thanks.  Feel God’s closeness among you and pray for that to spread across America.

Pastor Les Hollon

All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
- 2 Corinthians 4:14-16 (NIV)

You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
- 2 Corinthians 9:10-12 (NIV)

This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church.  For more information about God and your place in His world, contact Dr. Hollon, click over to Trinity Baptist Church.

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. Thanks!