The countdown until black Friday

It was Labor Day when I saw the first display.  Stores couldn't wait until even Halloween was over to start the Christmas retail rush. Thanksgiving?  Well, that has become just the feast before black Friday, the dream of every retail store.

I even received this morning an email declaring "the countdown until black Friday."  Get your shopping carts ready.

But perhaps, a different countdown is in order for this November -- a month of thanks and praise, every day declaring one thing I am thankful for.  Write it down and tape the small slips of paper to a window as a remembrance.  And in one month, we will have a visual reminder of God's provision and goodness.   "Thanks" will cover the spaces from where we see our world.  It impacts how I see my world.  And how I see God.  When we say God is good, it is not a description.  It is who He is.

With a month of daily thanks to God,
      written, collected, remembered
            taped to my thoughts,
how different our homes would look,
how different our lives would look,
how different
                  my heart.

What am I serving for Thanksgiving this year?
                 An offering of praise.

And as the old hymn says,
    "Count your blessings,
            name them one by one,
     Count your blessings,
            see what God has done,
     Count your blessings,
            name them one by one,
      And it will surprise you
            what the LORD has done. "

...singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,
     and telling all Your wondrous deeds.

                                   Psalm 26.7