Nothing wears me out more than ungratefulness because I believe we should be thankful all year around and not just on certain days like Thanksgiving. Ingratitude is a poor return of kindness and so ugly that it shouldn’t hold any space in any area of our lives.

The Bible says that ingratitude is actually a sin that carries serious consequences. Do you remember what happened to the children of Israel when they complained and grumbled after God so miraculously and graciously got them out of Egypt? He let them wander in the wilderness for 40 years and generations died never seeing the Promised Land. God had literally delivered them from Pharaoh and fed them manna from heaven and they complained. Geez, can you imagine being so ungrateful? Yet they were ungrateful and it cost them dearly. It kept them from the Promised Land.

Numbers 32:11-13 states that Israel had to wander for 40 years until those who were over the age of 20 at that time died in the wilderness. So Moses who was 80 would have been 120 years old and those who would have been 20 were now 60 and all of those generations died in the wilderness. Only the children who were 19 and under at that time went into the Promised Land (which you would still add the 40 years of wandering to their ages so they were now 59 and younger). Also Joshua and Caleb, who brought back a good report about the abundance of fruit in the land not the giants, would have been older, but they made it into the Promised Land because they believed that God would give them the Promised Land and He did. However, the ungratefulness and unbelief had to die with that generation which is pretty profound and maybe even prophetic for this day and time.

By the way, the number 40 is quite significant in the Bible. It generally symbolizes a period of testing or trial. The Israelites wandered for 40 years. Noah was on the Ark for 40 days and nights when God flooded the earth. Jesus fasted for 40 days. Goliath taunted the army of God until David brought him down with one smooth stone. (Yes, he picked up five stones, but it only took one to take down a giant!) The number 40 also signifies new life or change. God literally used 40 years of wandering in a wilderness to change out the generations of sin and then new life came through the others. This showed His redemption and symbolized completion. So I can understand that sometimes bad things happen in our lives and we react poorly, but thankfulness and gratefulness really go a long way. This in turn often makes others around you become appreciative too.

So when I think of thankfulness, I really think of words like – appreciation, indebtedness, acknowledgement, and reverence. Being thankful means we are delighted, obliged, valued, respected, regarded, honored and cherished.

As children we learn to say “Please and thank you.” We are taught that we can demonstrate kindness not just in words, like saying “I love you” but through our actions and our deeds that demonstrate our love and respect for one another.

This past week I was grateful to read a precious child of God’s obituary in which one particular line jumped out at me. Out of all of this sweet lady’s accomplishments, her greatest accomplishment was the fact that she left behind a trail of improvements in places and in people.

To me this was the most remarkable and inspiring thing I had read recently in an obituary and believe me, I have read and proofed many.

So as I paused to ponder that little sentence that had shared so much about what she truly valued, I wondered what the world would be like if we ALL left every place and every person better off than how we found them. What if we were truly grateful for everything and everyone? What a remarkable and refreshing world we would be in!

So why not start this Thanksgiving and let’s begin to practice being more grateful and appreciative for the things that we have and the places we have been. Let’s be grateful and cherish the people God has blessed us with, all of our family and our friends.

I pray that when I leave this earth, I will leave a trail of improvements in the places I have been and in the people I have known and loved. I pray I will always be grateful for everything and everyone in my life and I remember to always count my blessings every day.

May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving full of gratefulness, grace and good food so you can gobble ‘til you wobble.