Yesterday I finished the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp (please read it, friends). How timely that I finished a book about thanks-giving the day before the national celebration of the practice!

The theme of the book is that thanksgiving is the epitome of finding joy in the Lord. Voskamp explains that if we notice all the little (or big) graces of life, it will point us back to the Creator of all these things.

It got me thinking… Does my life exude thanks to my Creator? Do I only give God the moments of short, pleading prayer or is my whole life the prayer, “Father, your will be done”?

I want my life to be a stream of thanks because of the abundant grace shown me. All is grace, says Voskamp. Did you get that? All is grace.

Today, Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for “every good and perfect gift” that “com[es] down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17).

We are essentially pilgrims in the kingdom of God. The 102 passengers (and two dogs, may I mention) that traveled over on the Mayflower sailed to a new world in hopes of freedom. If you think about it, we, as believers, are doing the same thing.

We, redeemed sinners (the glorious irony), are sure of life in a world unfamiliar to our own. As C.S. Lewis most wisely said, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” So, with insatiable desires, we have joined the Jesus movement on the course of righteousness, fighting the good fight. For we currently experience and will soon fully experience the wondrous freedom found in Jesus Christ, the Son of our glorious Father.

We are able to feast at the Lord’s table, to taste and see that He is jolly good! How can we not be thankful for that?

Yet, at the end of this evening, I found myself searching online for a good camera deal for a friend. A camera that I’ve been saving up for for a long time. I found myself beginning to covet. “Comparison is the thief of joy,” once said Theodore Roosevelt. Oh President Teddy, how you were correct!

Convicted of my sin almost immediately, my mind raced back to a quote I’d read in Voskamp’s book yesterday: “Every breath’s a battle between grudgery and gratitude and we must keep thanks on the lips so we can sip from the holy grail of joy.”

I’m being honest, it’s 1 a.m. and I don’t know how to tie this blog post up. So to spare you, I’m just going to stop.

Happy thanksgiving, friends. I’m thankful for the gift of education–learning how to be a better writer (although this conclusion doesn’t attest to much) and for a platform (however small it may be) to write about how the Lord is constantly refining me.