Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 178 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

5 Steps to a Thankful Thanksgiving

Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 178 of our Trek, and yesterday we explored Thanksgiving through the Bible as we focused on some key verses. Today we want to climb the five steps to a thankful Thanksgiving. If you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. With our client workload a little less this week, it is our hope to start putting some structure into our plans going into 2016. We see several areas of opportunity but want to make sure to focus on the wise opportunities for this season of life. As with many of the decisions that we make in our lives, it is not the choice between a good or bad option. Those are clear, but it is choosing the wisest option among several possible good options. The more you focus on making wise choices, the more you will realize just how very important it is.

Tomorrow we celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States, and as such, we have been focusing on Thanksgiving all week. We have learned much through these nuggets of wisdom and thankfulness, so today we want to climb the 5 steps to have a thankful Thanksgiving.

5 Steps to a Thankful Thanksgiving

If your home is like most, your Thanksgiving Day will be very busy, with either traveling to where you want to go or preparing your home to have others over for the day. Either way, that can be very hectic and emotionally trying, which doesn't lend itself to preparing your heart to be reflective and thankful.

This means all the more that if we want to be the kind of people who are characterized by thankfulness, then we must make sure that we focus on it, not just on Thanksgiving Day but at all times during the year.

Here are a few key steps as well as some thoughts that are simple and practical to apply that you can use right away in your quest to become more thankful.

1. Time

Set aside time regularly to be quiet and to reflect. We live in the fastest paced time ever. From the moment we awake to the moment we collapse into bed, we have the opportunity to go at full speed and never slow down. If we schedule time every day during which we can be quiet and reflect, we will free our hearts and minds up from the tyranny of the urgent and rushed.

Psalms 119:15, "I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways."

 

2. Thought

Give thought to the many blessings that you have. Living in a consumer culture, most of us are fully aware of what we do not have and how we absolutely must have "it." But how often do we reflect upon that which we already have? Take some time each day and think of one or two things that you have that you may typically take for granted, and then take a moment and give thanks for those.

Psalms 85:12, "Yes, the Lord pours down his blessings. Our land will yield its bountiful harvest."

3. Generosity

Be generous toward those with less and not envious of those with more. We tend to look at others who may be wealthier than ourselves and think, "I sure wish I had what he does." That kind of thinking breeds envy and jealousy rather than contentment. What can we do to break that cycle? I would suggest being generous to those who are less fortunate than yourself. Go to work at a food bank. This should not just be during the holidays — everybody works there then — but on a regular basis during the year. That will remind you of how good you really have it.

Psalms 112:19,