I can hear my daughter’s young voice repeating the memory verse for Friday chapel, Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Her method of memorizing was to record her voice reading the passage of Scripture, then repeating it over and over again with the recorder. While she learned the verse, so did I.

Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases, (Psalm 103:1-3 NKJV)

In less than two weeks, we’ll be celebrating our country’s national holiday, Thanksgiving. Although we as a country celebrate once a year to give thanks to God for the bounty He has given us, we really should keep an attitude of thanks throughout the year. Don’t you agree?

One of the attributes my kind husband has is an attitude of thankfulness. Throughout the day, he will say thank you for numerous things. Even when he was the one to provide–such as a tasty meal that he made, he will say “thank you!” I admire his attitude and it reminds me how often I don’t say “thank you.”

Throughout our Bible–the greatest gift God could have given us–it gives reminders to us to give thanks . Sometimes with symbols. When the Israelites crossed the Jordan River and they entered the Promised Land, God stopped the waters  of the Jordan River from flowing so the people and priests could cross. The priests were instructed to remove twelve stones from the river bed and they would represent the twelve tribes of Israel.  A reminder to the people of what God had done for them that day. There are of course many other symbols they were given, but this is one of them.

In our own country, today is a day of remembrance for our Veteran’s who served our country to preserve freedom for us.

I’m partial to Marines (my son is a Marine, my great nephew is a Marine).

I’ve read of people who before they go to sleep at night, write down the things they are thankful for that day. I must be honest that I haven’t done that. But I am going to start a new tradition of doing just that. I’m going to start this evening. Will you join me?

Throughout today, I’m going to give thanks for the memory of my sweet girl’s voice, diligently learning her Friday Bible verse to say at school. Especially the words, Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! I’ll also give thanks for those who served our country and those who are serving right now. And tonight, I’ll write at least one thing down I’m thankful for. 

I can’t wait to see how it changes my attitude before I drop off to sleep. How about you? Will you join me?