Thanks but no thanks?

It's that time of year again...time to reflect on our gratitude (or lack thereof) for all the Lord's blessings. We had a family style Thanksgiving dinner at our church today. The day did not start out well! I lead worship and I had placed the cd (we have to use pre-recorded sound traks as we have no full time piano player) in the player. I thought I would practice before the service started. As I played the first song, I knew it was not right. My husband took over and when he did, it would not play at all. I had placed the cd on top of another one and it jammed the machine. Needless to say, my husband was not too happy and neither was our board member who had to take the entire machine apart to try to fix it. So...we did acapella hymns just like I'm sure the pilgrims did way back when! Maybe God has a sense of humor! I was not too thankful!
During the dinner, we went all around the table sharing our traditions and then stating what we were thankful for. At the end, everyone pulled together in cleaning up and doing the dishes. It did my heart good to see everybody pitching in. As we were cleaning, I was speaking with someone who has always hated the holidays ever since I've known her. I shared with her that she needs to come up with a plan to be thankful through the holidays and somehow find a plan to make them less stressful. It's all about focus! God deserves to be praised and celebrated! It's not about football games, turkey (aren't you glad you don't have feathers?), shopping (although I'm one of those die-hard black Friday shoppers - I'm out the door at 4:30 am) or stuffing ourselves until we pass out on the couch. It is a time to think about the blessings of family, health, freedom and life in Christ! May we all take time to push aside the stresses of life as we gather together and have an attitude of gratitude! Happy Thanksgiving!