The Best Ways to Celebrate Thanksgiving Every Day

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I did a quick internet search for Thanksgiving photos and couldn’t find one that didn’t include a holiday feast or pumpkins, gourds, and colorful falling leaves.

How do you traditionally celebrate Thanksgiving at your house?

I love traditional Thanksgiving meals as much as the next person. I have a stuffing recipe made with brioche bread, sausage, and craisins. We all love it! And I’m one of those people who loves pumpkin anything … but as much as we love all the yummy tastes, they are not the reason we celebrate.

The origin of the Thanksgiving holiday…

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists from England and the Native American Wampanoag people shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies.

For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.

Abraham Lincoln … in a proclamation [encouraging] all Americans to ask God to “commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” (History.com)

From the first harvest celebration … to a prayer for God’s care and healing two hundred and forty years later, Thanksgiving was to be a time of recognition and gratitude for God’s gracious involvement in people’s lives.

So, let’s pause to thank and praise God for who He is and all He does.

♥ Thank God for the world He created.

Come, let us worship and bow down.
    Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
for He is our God.
We are the people He watches over,
    the flock under His care.

Psalm 95:6–7

♥ Thank Him for the gracious gift of Jesus and the power of the Spirit.

The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

Romans 8:11

♥ Thank Him for giving you hope through faith in Jesus.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

♥ Thank Him for His grace, mercy, and love.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.

2 Thessalonians 2:16–17

♥ Thank Him for His generous provision and care. 

For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.

Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.

2 Corinthians 9:10 and 1 Peter 5:7

♥ Thank Him for the blessing of family and friends. 

We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.

1 Thessalonians 1:2

The Best Ways to Celebrate Thanksgiving
Every Day

• Thank and praise God for His gracious blessings.
• Write a personal prayer thanking God for who He is and all He does.
• Tell the people in your life that you are thankful for them.
• Make saying “thank you” a habit.
• Pause to appreciate the blessings of the moment.
• Notice and be thankful for the little things you take for granted.
• Ask your family to count their three best blessings this year.
• Make a promise to avoid all comparisons as you celebrate Thanksgiving & beyond.
• Go outside and look at God’s beautiful creation.
• Surrender yourself to the Lord—trust His plans and purposes.

Let’s pray…

A Prayer to Celebrate Thanksgiving Every Day

Father God, words are insufficient to thank You for who You are and all You do for us. You created a beautiful world to give us a home and gave it everything needed to provide food to sustain us and shelter to protect us.

And when we brought the stain of sin into Your world, You promised a Savior. When the time was right, You sent Your only Son to suffer the death we deserved giving us resurrection life through Him.

Your love overwhelms me. I fail and You forgive. Please help me forgive as you have forgiven me. Help me love as You love. Help me humbly live with a thankful heart.

May I openly appreciate the many blessings You give me. May I love well the people You have placed in my life. May I use Your gifts according to Your will. Every moment is a gift, please help me use them all for Your glory.

Please give me the attitude I need to celebrate Thanksgiving every day. You alone are worthy of all my worship and praise. I surrender my all to You, my Savior and my God. Amen.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth wrote…

“Be thankful. God has commanded it—for our good and for His glory. God’s command to be thankful is not the threatening demand of a tyrant. Rather, it is the invitation of a lifetime—the opportunity to draw near to Him at any moment of the day.”

When you and I pause to think of all the ways God has and continues to demonstrate His gracious love, we can’t help but live with a heart full of gratitude.

Let’s celebrate Thanksgiving every day … not with food and football but with prayer, praise, humble care, and love for one another.

Maybe you and your family would like to start a Gratitude Journal on Thanksgiving Day and have everyone add a daily blessing from now until New Year’s Eve. Reading them together on Dec. 31st could be a wonderful way to begin the New Year with a heart of gratitude.

Who knows … it might become a habit for the year ahead.

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