I trust you are having a great week. It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is next week. Everyone is looking forward to the break, to feasting with family, and to this season of special thankfulness for God’s goodness to us. We will hear much about gratitude in the next two weeks, much of it profound, but some of it clichéd, perhaps. I have often thought that God gives us particular holidays, holy-days, and special seasons so that for a few days we would reflect intently on the things for that we ought to be possessed by every day. We remember the incarnation at Christmas, because the gift of Christ should occupy our minds daily. We contemplate the cross and resurrection at Easter because the realities behind those events should own us moment by moment. God gave us Thanksgiving because most of us forget to praise and thank God for the thousands of gifts He gives us every hour. Most of us tend toward grumbling and complaining rather than thanking and praising. Hence, the apostle Paul challenges us to, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 5:19-20) and to give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thess 5:18). I am grateful for the season of Thanksgiving to remind me to be thankful always and in all things.