As Christians, we are thankful to God for the things that happen in our lives. But how often do we share those things with other people?

     One such way we do this is with our “Thankful Time”. At Thanksgiving or Christmas, we always have a big family get-together. After we’ve had a big dinner and opened all the presents, we put the younger kids in another room to do something quiet, like watch an appropriate movie. Then the adults gather in our living room. With the lights down low, we pass around a lighted glass candle. When each person gets it, they share something they’re thankful to God for in the last year. Each person takes about a minute. Many people share some very personal things. We have about 20 adults, so it takes some time, but it’s time well spent.

     Many times, several people tear up as they share the blessings of what God has done for them in the past year. It’s also a time when some publicly express our love for our spouses, family and friends. The year I was healed of cancer, one of my daughters-in-love thanked God for that. I was very touched as she teared up when she was sharing it.

     One of our family members-by-marriage shared with tears in her eyes, how blessed she was when everyone so lovingly accepted her into our family. She had come from half-way across the country to be married to one of our family members, so she had left all of her family to move here.

     We’ve been doing this now for over 30 years. In fact, we like it so much that we’ve started having our thankful time at Thanksgiving and then at Christmas, we thank God for what’s coming up in the new year. Even some of the teen-agers want to be a part of it.

     Thanking God is something the bible encourages us to do (1^st Thessalonians 5:18, 1^st Chronicles 16:34 & Colossians 3:15). It’s even more encouraging to hear what God has done and is doing in the lives of those closest to us.

For His Kingdom,
Dave Maynard
https://bsssb-llc.com