It was a typical open house. Or was it? And yes, this does relate to Thanksgiving Day!

Elizabeth was celebrating her high school graduation. It was a joyful time, with her friends, relatives and family gathered at her home to celebrate what God had done in her life.

All of us were there to honor her faithfulness, educational achievement and ministry that defined who God had molded her to be.

But something unusual happened: SHE blessed US!

From her family’s perspective, they had simply displayed a mix of small items to express praise and thankfulness to God, but from the perspective of guests like us, it was a powerful example that both challenged and blessed us. Notes and Scriptures and items about thankfulness were found everywhere! A canvas with markers encouraged guests to write down things for which WE were thankful. Photos and slips of paper that depicted “thankful things” (actual excerpts from Elizabeth’s “Thankful Journal”) were scattered around the table to bless guests and express thankfulness. Even the invitations were notes of thankfulness to guests. All of these items, while being mementos of Elizabeth, were road maps directing us straight to the throne of God, from Whom all blessings flow.

Elizabeth has spent years surrounding herself with visual reminders of God’s goodness and recording all the things for which she is thankful, no matter what the circumstances at the time. The result? A visibly joyful spirit that is evident to anyone around her.

I’m sure there were days that she found it difficult to be thankful, as we all do. We all have days, or years, of trials or suffering, when we start to doubt God’s love and care for us, or our usefulness to Him, or we are so fed up with suffering that we don’t even feel like going on with life.

It’s those times, when Satan is blinding us to God’s goodness and His wonderful plan for our eternity as believers in Christ, that we need to focus, as Elizabeth has done, on God’s blessings to us throughout our LIFETIME in order to offset the memories that Satan uses to (1) drag us down in the present, or (2) pump up our egos to make us believe that WE are responsible for the good things we enjoy. It is all from God and it is all for our good. Oh, that we can help our grandchildren understand that early in their lives!

This life on earth is just a blip in eternity and there is no amount of earthly joy or earthly suffering that even compares to the glory of eternity — our forever life with the God of the universe, our Creator, in Heaven through Jesus Christ.

The “secret” to being thankful on Thanksgiving Day, which you’ve probably already figured out by now and will want to pass on to those precious grandchildren, is to be thankful EVERY day!

“In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” — 1 Thess. 5:18

You can help your grandchildren learn to give thanks in everything! Give them a “Thankful Journal” where they can begin listing all the things they have to be thankful for, every day. No matter what their age. And we need to do that, too. Not just for us, but so we can share with our children and grandchildren the bigger picture — God’s faithfulness through many generations.

A “Thankful Journal” is simply a modern-day way of doing what God commanded in Scripture. He told the Israelites to REMEMBER the great things He had done for them, and to tell them to their children and their grandchildren (Deut. 4:9). We need to share our memories of the good, joyful times; and memories of how God sustained us through the difficult times of suffering.

Those memories of the past can spark the faith we need for delighting in joys and weathering storms in the present and the future.

Today is a special day in the United States, set aside to give thanks to God for the country and the freedoms and the plentiful food and preservation of life that He so providentially and graciously gave to the Pilgrims and still gives to us today. So whether you connect with your grandchildren via distance or across the dinner table, you can help them start a “Thankful Journal” this very day!

“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” — 1 Cor. 15:57