What are you thankful for?

“You’re blessed when you get your inside world – your mind and heart – put right. Then you can see God in the outside world” (Matthew 5:8, MSG).

I am currently in the phase of life where it's hard to say how much of my time with my kids is a blessing and how much of it makes me long for the second coming of Jesus...now...like right now, please.

In fact, I am writing this devotional in my office which I am considering turning into a bunker, where no human being under the age of 12 is permitted.

I sound really grouchy, huh? It's because I am.

We all get this way. Whether you have kids, you are empty nesters, or live alone, sometimes our insides get out of sorts. Until they get put right, it's hard to find any peace or celebrate anyone or anything.

How do they get put right? Well, my 6 year old who has never stopped singing from the moment she entered this world has a song for that. "What are you thankful for, what are you thankful for, what are you thankful for?" Set to the most obnoxious tune you can imagine.  

Five words repeated over and over again...and over and over again. Repeated so often it's hard to know if they are a message from heaven or a taste of hell.

They are truth. Find something to be grateful for and it'll put your insides right. Do it often and you'll have more peace, more wholeness, and more hope because it will draw you closer to Jesus.

I'm going to give my kids a hug and kiss, and tell them how thankful I am for them.

So I'll pass the question on to you this thanksgiving: What are you thankful for?

-Pastor Mitch