Changing our Hearts......

This month is of course November- and we all know what that means....Thanksgiving, turkey, family, fall, pumpkins, leaves, little pilgrims, and the list goes on.......

And if you are around anyone who has adopted, is adopting, or is on fire about adoption in general- you may also know that it happens to be Orphan Sunday today....and Adoption Month.

These are all things to.... well.... help us recognize Thankfulness in our lives.  BUT- sometimes there is something missing.  You see it isn't that these things are great, but that when we get on with our New Year our hearts are the same.  We in essence spend the next couple of months being thankful, hanging out with our families, eating way too much food, going to start running it off at the treadmill.....yadda yadda yadda.......

So what is missing?  A TRULY THANKFUL HEART!  One that says my treasure is NOT here on this Earth!  My treasure is in Heaven and therefore the ONLY thing I can boost in is Jesus Christ.  HE IS MY THANK YOU!  There really isn't anything else.....it all only points back to God.  Thankful for our food- why?  Because if we have ever had to cry over not being able to buy a gallon of milk because we have run out of money- we know that GOD alone is our provider.  Thankful for our children- why?  Because we know that God is the miracle worker that CREATED our child in the womb.  Thankful for..........

How can we truly develop a THANKFUL HEART?  One that doesn't come and go with the calendar year?

One way is to play the Glad Game (which I have mentioned on my blog before).  It is from the movie Polyanna- we like the really old version :).  It is where an orphan recalls living with her parents who were missionaries.  She really wanted a doll, but when the "missionary barrels" came all she got was a pair of crutches.  Her father encouraged her to play the Glad Game and be glad that she didn't have to use them.  Seems a bit harsh because after all she was just a little girl, but later when she became an orphan.....and was thrown into a situation that was less than perfect she remembered it.  It was a part of who she was.  She wasn't a hard hearted little brat who didn't care about others- quite the opposite.

Later in the movie when talking with the pastor- she talked about the Glad passages in the scriptures.  Pointing out that there are hundreds and hundreds of passages that talk about being glad.  So why do we still have problems seeing that our hearts need to change?  Well we blame it on hurried schedules, too much to do, and NOT ENOUGH OF WHAT WE WANT.

In an effort to change this in ourselves- because YES I AM PREACHING TO ME TOO!!  We have started enforcing a rule in this home.  If you start pouting because you are asked to do the laundry (or complain over anything really)- you GET to sing this song:

Thank you Lord for ____________(laundry to fold), Thank you Lord for __________, Thank you Lord for _________right where we are.  Hallelujah Praise the Lord, Hallelujah Praise the Lord, Hallelujah Praise the Lord right where we are.  **To really get into it everyone joins in and we all clap and dance around :)

We also try to play the glad game as often as we can as well as making sure we don't get wrapped up in ourselves- with plenty of learning about people world wide who would give anything for 1/1000 of what we have.  This is not a one month deal, but a lifetime of learning.  If Paul in scriptures can do it- so can we!

To help us all here is a Glad passage:

Psalm 113  Shout praises to the Lord!  Everyone who serves him, come and praise His name.  Let the name of the Lord be praised now and forever.  From dawn until sunset the name of the Lord deserves to be praised.  The Lord is far above all of the nations; he is more glorious than the heavens.
No one can compare with the Lord our God.  His throne is high above, and He looks down to see the heavens and the earth.  God lifts the poor and needy from dust and ashes, and He lets them take part in ruling His people.  When a wife has no children, He blesses her with some, and she is happy, Shout praises to the Lord!

What else do you do or can we do to change our minds, hearts, and attitudes?