James C. Bryant, 32° K.C.C.H.
1470 Leafmore Place
Decatur, Georgia 30033–2023

A thankful heart turns every day into Thanksgiving.

Recently, an active and athletically built man collapsed suddenly with a massive heart attack and nearly died before he reached the hospital. When he survived the lengthy surgery and began the slow process of recovery during which he couldn't lift anything heavier than a glass of water, he learned a good lesson. He was so thankful his life had been spared that he proudly proclaimed: "There are no 'bad' days any more. Every day of life is a good day, regardless of what it brings with it."
The Psalmist must have had a similar attitude when he wrote hundreds of years ago: "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High: to shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night." Psalm 92:1–2

It isn't that we are deliberately negligent or really ungrateful. It's just that we don't realize how much we have to be thankful for until we're in danger of losing it. Or we are preoccupied with immediate concerns and fail to realize how well off we are.

A relative invited us to dinner shortly after her husband had come home following quadruple bypass heart surgery. Her mother had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and she had endured a day of difficult decisions that left her frazzled and vulnerable. After we sat down at the table and before asking the blessing, she looked up and said, "Can someone think of anything to be thankful for?"

O yes! We could be thankful for immediate blessings. Her husband was alive, despite the heart problem, and he was likely to recover. Her mother was dying, but we could be thankful she had lived to a ripe old age in good health and had blessed our lives again and again. We could be thankful for the food on the table at a time when thousands around the world would have given anything to trade places with us. We could be thankful for a warm, comfortable home. We could be grateful that we had each other in an atmosphere where love dwells easily. And that was only part of why we could be thankful. Most of us are more thankful to God than we acknowledge even to ourselves. We just need prompting.

Thanksgiving Day is a good time to reflect on what we take for granted, to acknowledge God as the giver of every good, and to thank Him for all blessings. But saying thank you to God in prayer before plunging into the turkey isn't enough. What we need is a year-round attitude of gratitude. With such an attitude, it doesn't matter how one spends Thanksgiving—going to worship services, eating the day's feast, or watching football on television. What matters is that at some point we stop to reflect on what God has provided and acknowledge Him with gratitude as the giver.

Developing an attitude of gratitude also prompts us to thank God for His blessings every time we pray. The Psalmist wrote, "Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms." Psalm 95:2 And again, "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." Psalm 100:4.
When all is said and done, a thankful heart demonstrated by the attitude of gratitude turns every day into Thanksgiving Day.

That way we never take our blessings for granted.

James C. Bryant is an ordained minister and a frequent speaker who is currently Special Assistant to the President and University Historian at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. The author of several books and articles, he is the Chaplain of Yaarab Shrine Temple in Atlanta and editor of the Basharat, Yaarab Temple's popular monthly magazine.