An Attitude of Gratitude.

So, I ate a little turkey this weekend.
Actually that's a lie. I ate ALOT of turkey this weekend. Two turkeys in fact (not the whole thing, let's not get crazy now)
But I ate two turkey dinners and one of them was cooked to perfection  by the human whirlwind that is my sister in a pregnant nesting phase and one was deep fried and injected with hot sauce. One turkey dinner was accompanied by an extraneous \ raw veggie plate no one touched but looked very nice and one was accompanied by bizarre french music (sorry Emil, but it made me think of Dancing bears and flying people)
Both ended with pumpkin desserts
Both included fabulous food and loved ones and much to be thankful for.

I really am grateful for so much. Thanksgiving has always been a holiday which I feel has great spiritual significance to me. As part of our family's tradition while growing up we would go around the table before or after the meal and say something that we were really grateful for. Sure, sometimes it was stuff like "my toys" or "my dog" but there were times when I found I really was grateful for something specific below the surface and that feeling of gratitude would go with me into the days that followed

I know God is always teaching me and that I have so very much to learn, but one thing I feel I'm getting a grasp on is how the gifts and blessings we are given don't always seem like gifts and blessings at the onset and that it takes the right combination of submission and gratitude to sometimes see God's blessings for what they are.

Sure, I can be thankful for the big stuff like my family, my needs that are met, my desires that are met, my dreams that are fulfilled and so on and so forth, but to look deeper at the things in my life I have complained about and surrender them to an attitude of gratitude can take effort.

There is a song that has impacted me that I sing to myself (or rather to the Lord) when I'm just moving around my day and the line that especially gets me is "You give good gifts to me, I pray that I recieve them well."

In the attitude of prayer and in the attitude of thankfulness, that's become my prayer this weekend.
May we all receive what we have been given with gratitude and may it humble us, may we receive our gifts well, with grace.