It is almost Thanksgiving here in the US. A meditation from November 14 by Mark Roberts of the Fuller dePree Institute includes this suggestion, which is a good one for any time of the year.
"[It will soon] be Thanksgiving Day in the United States. For many years I have used this occasion as an opportunity to remember God’s gifts in my life. These days, I’m able to do so on Thanksgiving morning. I get up early and while it’s still quiet I reflect on the past year. To help me with this reflection I pull out my calendar and journal. I make a list of all the gifts I’ve received in the last year. Some of these are obvious and repeated every year (gratitude for my family, for example). But many of the gifts I jot down were special to the previous year. Without fail, I end up remembering things I had been taking for granted. As I make my list of gifts, I thank God again and again for such marvelous grace.
I would encourage you to join me in this exercise of Thanksgiving reflection and prayer. It may not work for you to do it on Thanksgiving Day. That’s partly why I’m mentioning it now. I expect you’ll be able to set aside an hour or so in the next eight days, or perhaps during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend."
