Thanksgiving

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. Psalm 100:4 HCSB

When I was a young child, it was hard for me to distinguish the concepts of having thanksgiving in my heart and having thanksgiving dinner with my family. Whenever I heard that I was supposed to enter His gates with thanksgiving, I pictured my entire family carrying turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie through the front gate of the Lord’s house, and then sitting down with Him, Pilgrims, and Indians for a giant feast at an enormous table. Then, before we ate, instead of bowing our heads, we simply turned to the Lord and thanked Him face to face. In my mind, He always nodded graciously in a noble and righteous way. Even now as I remember it, tears come to my eyes.

Even though I misunderstood the meaning of thanksgiving as a child, I think I had a big part of it right. When we come before the Lord, we are to thank Him for His many blessings. We should never forget to thank Him and to praise Him in response to all He has given us.

God, may we always come before You with thanksgiving.