Happy Thanksgiving!

The Lord be with you....

It is a good way to greet people today. Thanksgiving 2016 is here and we'll gather to celebrate with family. We'll probably eat a bit too much. We'll watch a little football (Okay, too much football). Some will go out shopping for the best Black Friday sales ...on Thursday. Some will have to go to work. All in all, the day will come and go and not much will change for us. But what if we changed because of the things we did and said today.

What if we became more compassionate?

What if we became more patient?

What if we became more gracious?

What if we became more thankful?

What if we became more joyful?

What if we decided to become more godly and less worldly?

The prophet Isaiah was pleading with the nation of Israel to consider changing their ways and in so doing changing their relationship with their God.

"Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and

the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for

he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, ”declares

the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my

thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it

without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread

for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will

accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led

forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will

clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will

grow. This will be for the LORD'S renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.”

(Isaiah 55:6-13, NIV)

Today, before or after you eat, before or after you watch football or go shopping, consider spending some quality time with God in His Word and let it transform your heart and mind. Allow God to speak to you and tell you of his love for you. Let the heart of God embrace you and see if your outlook on life doesn't change.

Instead of complaints and impatience, see if you aren't more readily able to give thanks when things don't go as planned. Instead of anger and the need for retribution, see if your heart doesn't seek forgiveness and bend before God in humility. Instead of an insatiable need for more things, see if a heart of gratitude is at rest with what you do have. Instead of a heart jaded by every little negative thing, see if you don't begin to glory in the hovering promises of God.

"Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Who can proclaim the

mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare his praise? Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly

do what is right. (Psalm 106:1-3, NIV)

Happy Thanksgiving friends!

Be able to say this greeting to others for the next 364 days until we observe it again.