Each year, Thanksgiving Day is always a great time for my family to get together with friends and families to reflect on the blessings we received from God. During this year, we are so grateful that we can have another chance to serve Him joyfully in various capacities.

The Thanksgiving Day is also a marking of the start of Christmas shopping season, especially the day after Thanksgiving which is normally called “Black Friday”. There are a lot of door buster sales for you to pick and choose. Hope you got what you are looking for from your “wish list”.  Sometimes, I was wondering “Do I really need those extra stuffs lying around my house?” It seems to me discontentment is more of a cause for the shopping spree than is a necessity.

There has an old saying, “Looking for a horse while riding on a donkey (騎驢找馬)”. It is usually implying in searching for a better one while retaining the current one. However, it is also implicating an unsettled mind set against currently possessed resource or position. It may not be wrong if you could find a right balance in between your “aspiration” and “contentment”. But I find it is a difficult thing to control the “little fox” in our mind – The more we desire, the more we were aspired to get. “When to stop” is the most difficult thing to practice. No wonder the Bible teaches us to pursue the “self control” fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22).

So, what is your wish list during this season, my dear brothers and sisters? Do you wish to become a thankful person?  How about wishing to develop a better and closer relationship with our God?  After all, we received all the blessings from Him. May we all remember that every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights (James 1:17a).

Hence, to be thankful is to acknowledge His provision and mercies. The author of the book of Proverbs taught us that, “in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. 在你一切所行的事上，都要認定他，他必指引你的路‧ (Proverbs 3:6)”

May God bless you and your family during this holiday seasons.