Happy Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving time! I see all this ‘Thanksgiving Day’ trending all over twitter which made me Google up to see what exactly it is! And there you go… This is what I read…

"Thanksgiving is celebrated world over with equal fervour and euphoria. It conveys the universal feeling of being thankful to Lord Almighty for his continuous grace."

Ah! Honestly, I didn’t know that… With whatever I’ve seen on the television, it’s more of a banqueting time with family and friends, turkey being served as the main course! This is all that I knew. No wonder, this day is called as the ‘Turkey Day’ as well, for whatever reasons! 

All over the Bible, we see a lot of importance being given to thanksgiving.

Why not? We do have a lot of reasons to thank Him.

•  For His never-ending love.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. (1 Corinthians 16:34)

• For His provisions for us through His creations. 

For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the Word of God and prayer. ( 1 Timothy 4:4-5)

• Simply because He is just and righteous.

I will give thanks to the Lord because of His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High. (Psalm 7:17)

• He is more than a helper in times of trouble. 

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song. (Psalm 28:7)

And on and on and on. For friends and family, for the good health and comfort, for our educational institutions (no matter how much we grumble for the college we are in, we are still so proud of just being a part of it.. right? )

And so, I sit down to make a list of why I wanna thank God today and I realize that He has answered every single prayer of mine. Probably not in the way I wanted Him to answer it, but in His own style.

So what did I ask God and what all have I received?

"I asked for strength,

And God gave me difficulties to make me strong.

I asked for wisdom,

And God gave me problems to solve.

I asked for prosperity,

And God gave me Brain and Brawn to work.

I asked for courage,

And God gave me obstacles to overcome.

I asked for love,

And God gave me troubled people to help.

I asked for favour,

And God gave me opportunities."

Yea… I am thankful today because I received nothing I wanted but I received everything I needed according to His perfect timing.

I am thankful for the sun that shines to wake me up every morning, giving me another day to praise my Creator!

Faith and Thanksgiving are great pals. When we are thankful, we thank God not only for what He has done for us in the past but also for what He is going to do in the future. When we thank Him, we magnify His name and not our problems.

The Bible says, 

 Give thanks in all circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus- Thessalonians 5:18

So, what are you thankful for today ???

Masterpiece

         I love looking up at the sky. It sometimes has such a beautiful mix of colours. As I flew back home after this summer vacation, I got another opportunity to get a closer view of the beautiful white clouds spread across the blue sky like cotton balls. Beautiful! And I managed to capture the moment as well. At that moment, I could just feel myself leaping inside and say, “Wah, Lord! You are such a master at creation.”

         Even now as I write this, it is raining outside and it makes me wonder how Noah and his family would have stood awestruck when God set the rainbow in the sky just for them! Those beautiful seven colours for the first time ever declaring the promises God has for us! The clouds, the night sky, blooming flowers, chirping birds and all these little things around us amuse us and we just can’t stop admiring the beauty in them.

        The Bible says that when God created the light, the water, the dry ground, the skies, the trees, fruits and flowers, the animals and the birds, He saw that it was ‘good’. But when God created man, He said that it was ‘very good’. The things that look so beautiful in our eyes are just ‘good’ according to God and we look much more pretty and precious than all these through the eyes of our Creator!! When He could create everything by just the utterance of His Word, He took time to ‘make’ us in His own image!! He knew us even before we were formed in our mother’s womb. What a privilege!

         And we, not knowing the importance of how precious we are in God’s sight, keep grumbling about our looks, the way we walk, the way we talk and say, “How I wish I was a little like this..” But all that God wants you to know is just this:

“If you’re dark or if you’re fair or if you’re fat or lean, God loves you.

If you’re tall or if you’re short or if you’re in between, God loves you.

He loves you when you’re happy; He loves you when you’re sad,

He loves you when you’re very good and even when you’re bad.

No matter what you look like, no matter what you do, God loves you,

He makes me happy, God loves you, He loves me too, Yeah! “

         Imagine how you would feel if you had worked carefully with all your heart and soul on a work and you really thought it was one of your best works only to find out that people are just not convinced with your work and they dislike it. This is exactly how God feels when you start grumbling about your appearances and talents that God has given you. It grieves Him.

         I remember one of my friends was telling me how bad she felt because people made fun of her for her features and how she just wished she was someone else.        

       
   But hey, God has created you in His own image. And each one of us, He created unique. I can challenge you that you are the only person in this world who can be like you. No one can even try.

So next time you feel down and out and before you could say a word ill about you, hold on and remind yourself of this:

“He’s still working on me, to make me what I ought to be,

It took Him just a week to make the moon and the stars,

The sun and the earth and Jupiter and mars,

How loving and patient He must be…

He’s still working on me.

There really ought to be a sign upon my heart,

Don’t judge me yet, there’s an unfinished part,

But I’ll be perfect just according to His plan,

Fashioned by the Master’s loving Hands.”

So cheer up friend! No one can beat you in being you. You are one of a kind! Yes, you are a masterpiece.

So, how are you feeling today mate?? Listen to this song video. Should make you feel good.