As we celebrate Thanksgiving, you may think you don’t make enough money or don’t have a big enough house or a new enough car to be thankful.
But did you know that if you live in the United States, you make more money than 95 percent of the people in the world?
Thanksgiving Day was inspired by the Pilgrims but didn’t become official till 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln declared it a federal holiday to express thanks for the country and for God. And remember, Lincoln did this at a time when the country was going through the Civil War.
Yet President Lincoln saw the benefit of focusing on what the country had and what its citizens were blessed with…and not the troubles of his day. Lincoln called it his Proclamation of Thanksgiving and Praise and he called on all Americans on that one Thursday every November, to say thanks for their blessings.
Well-known local pastor Dr. David Jeremiah has this advice. Before you sit down and offer thanks around the dinner table, ask yourself: "Am I a complainer? Or a thanks-giver?" It all comes down to perspective. So make it a thankful Thanksgiving.
(Photo Getty Images)