Thanksgiving is over, but I wanted to add one more post about it to keep the spirit alive. I am sure most of the turkey and pumpkin pies are long gone in your house, but the idea of being thankful needs to extend past that one weekend.
I was reminded of this yesterday on the long journey home. The drive was fairly pleasant until I came down the on ramp merging into the traffic on I-75. Then the fun started! Lots of cars, lots of traffic. I was continually happy and thankful however, as I would glance over into the northbound lane and see stopped vehicles while my southbound lane continued moving along at a good speed.
And then we got to Knoxville!
There is not much like sitting in 3 lanes of traffic and traveling 3 miles in 80 minutes. It was during this time of stop and go and stop and go – and did I mention stop? – that my spirit of thankfulness was tested.
There I was, full, munching on peanut M&M and drinking a Coke, warm, with my family, in a working automobile with a 1/2 tank of fuel, listening to Christmas music on my iPod – and full of complaints. Well not really full of complaints, because every time I thought about complaining, I reminded myself that I could be in a much difference place. I could be in the car that they were pulling from the woods – or worse. And I attempted to keep looking at the great things right in front of me.
So, although I was slightly agitated, and very disappointed about the long delay in our travel plans ( it’s hard to be happy with an 8 hour trip becomes 10!), I constantly reminded myself about the spirit of thanksgiving, and how fortunate and blessed I really am. How about you? As you deal with the various agitations that this season brings, remember you blesses as well and keep that thankful spirit moving.
20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20 New Living Translation (NLT)