‘When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” ~Willie Nelson

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving Day and was celebrated in the U.S and it is always celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. In America many families gathered to celebrate, to share a meal, to relax and importantly to give thanks for blessings received. It is a day for all of us to pause too and to quietly thank God for all our blessings.

Maybe right now there may not be much to give thanks for in your life. The effects of inflation, soaring costs and the expense of Christmas is upon us. To be grateful may seem a big ask this year. Maybe there are other difficult challenges in your life right now. But whatever our story, it is always good if we can look deeper into our lives. Once we begin to reflect and look at our lives, we all will find some things to be grateful for. A spirit of thankfulness or gratefulness can make such a difference.

It is well known that giving thanks can make you happier in life. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, appreciate good experiences, improve our wellbeing, help us deal with adversity and help build better relationships. It is also well known that when we are grateful, it helps us connect to something larger than ourselves, such as to other people, to nature, to our universe, to a higher power and so on.

So as we journey into the coming week, it is a good opportunity to thank God for all our blessings and it will be particularly good and fitting to do it on Thanksgiving Day.