Listen

Don’t think to yourself, My own strength and abilities have produced all this prosperity for me. Remember the Lord your God! He’s the one who gives you the strength to be prosperous in order to establish the covenant he made with your ancestors—and that’s how things stand right now.

Deuteronomy 8:17-18

Think

The only way we can be truly thankful is if we remember what is true.

It’s tempting to ignore truth – especially when truth is ugly and doesn’t feel good. It’s tempting to rewrite our own stories to make ourselves look good – to make ourselves the superheroes, or the saviors, or the centers of the universe. And if we tell ourselves those made-up stories often enough – both our personal stories and the stories of our communities – we soon start to believe them.

The way we can be truly thankful is if we can tell the truth. We can stop buying into the fictions we create about ourselves and instead remember the One we can always believe – and believe in. God is our true Source, Savior, and Center. God supplies our strength, grants our ability, and keeps promises to us.

And for that we can be truly thankful.

Nikki Finkelstein-Blair

Pray

Thank you, God, for helping me to know what is true. Help me to recognize honesty in those around me, and help me to be honest about myself. You know and love me as I am, and you give me strength and ability to grow. I am truly thankful. Amen.

Go

Give thanks to God, who has come with you all this way.

Give thanks to God, whose presence surrounds you now.

Give thanks to God, who is already preparing you for the road ahead.