Thanksgiving isn't just for November.

A yoga teacher I used to take classes from always began and ended her practice by instructing us to all live out an "attitude of gratitude". I've been recalling this often lately, and it's becoming more and more obvious to me that I, like many others, do not show enough gratitude for all the blessings in my life.

Thanksgiving is a subject we like to reserve for what America has nicknamed "Turkey Day". It's a subject so overlooked in society that immediately after the time we designate for Thanksgiving Day, we go out and splurge on new things.

We are doing this wrong.

Thanksgiving isn't a day, season, or fancy dinner. Gratitude is a lifestyle. It's a daily choice. It's a decision.

I'm writing this because it took all too much for me to realise how richly I'm blessed. It took my being overwhelmed by the privileges of life to understand that I am truly blessed. And that brings me to the next principle of thankfulness.

Thankfulness goes hand in hand with humility.

We must be humble to be thankful. We cannot be pridefully thankful, because pride contradicts the purpose of gratitude. Gratitude is the realisation that the things we have are blessings; gifts freely given, things that can't necessarily just be earned. You can earn a living, but you can't earn miracles. We are thankful when we realise that our blessings are the result of grace.

I must learn to live gratitude as a lifestyle, and not as an occasion. I must learn to live thankfulness as a choice, and not as an obligation.


Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. {1 Thessalonians 5:18}