It is a cold December morning. He woke up and was wondering how he was going to make ends meet. The world hadn’t been fair to him and he just needed someone to give him a chance to prove his worth. He was thankful for the job that he had even with the ups and downs of it. He was thankful for the food in his refrigerator and a place to lay his head. However, he was still in a position of there has to be more to life than just waking, working, eating, and sleeping. That cold December morning he chose to take the path of thankfulness and focus on what was good and instead of the negative.

Are any of you familiar with a situation like this? You have a job that you don’t particularly care for and it is leading to no improvement in your life. You show up and do your job and excel but there is no path to move forward and upward? The story above is fictional; however, it rings true to millions of people around the world. You sit there eating and sharing with others and see their successes and wonder why has my ticket not been punched yet? You think about how am I going to feed myself when this food runs out? Hot am I going to pay rent/mortgage, car note, things for the kids, new clothes, put gas in the car, etc? These are rough times when you are in situations like this. It seems as the walls are crashing in and you need a lifeline and then something else happens.

I get it! I have been there way too often and it is a struggle some days just to get out of bed to conquer the day. You click on your FaceBook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIN, and other social media platforms and it looks like everyone else is succeeding and having a great life. You get emails and see seminars and motivational speakers saying these three things will get you rich! These three things will help you succeed. These three….. You get my point. Yet you do those three things and there are no changes. In fact, these people fail to mention life is a marathon and yes those three things may benefit you; however, the road is long, twisty, bumpy, and down right dangerous at times, and then sometimes it is smooth road for miles at a time.

Success is different for everyone and it is not always denoted by financial gain. In fact, I would side with Timothy in 1 Timothy 6.10 that love of money (materialistic things) is the root of all evil. Yes, this is a Christian perspective and many will roll their eyes; however, take a moment and think about it as wisdom. We pursue careers that pay us more and when we get those positions we want more money and more stuff. We do whatever it takes to get to the next level and lose what it is to be thankful and appreciative. Yes there are things that we have to make our lives easier; however, if those things make us lose who we are as individuals it is not worth it. The cost is too steep and the damage that it causes often times is irreversible. We lose sight of those we care about, do things we would not have normally have done, bend the rules just to get a bigger financial gain, and so forth and so on.

You might be thinking why is pertinent to the path of thankfulness. Being thankful for what you have and changing your mindset will crush the love of money. I have seen where those that were thankful for a little ended up leading great organizations and were given more. :These same people may be driving nicer cars now; however, they are grateful for what they have and do not take it for granted as they know all of it can come crashing down tomorrow. These people never changed how they treat people in public or behind closed doors. You see the lives we see on the socials are just a snippet of what someone is going through, it’s like the highlight reel of life and most of the time it is the great times that are shared and not the dark times.

For example, this past week here in the United States we celebrated Thanksgiving. Despite all the reasons behind Thanksgiving why some are upset. Drop that away and think about what Thanksgiving is about. To be thankful for what you have been blessed with, be thankful for your life, family, friends, pets, and whatever else you are thankful for. This all changes a few hours after the turkey, ham, rolls, cranberry sauce, mac and cheese, potatoes, etc., has been changed. The onslaught of Black Friday. We have all see the videos of people lashing out and storming stores to get these great deals; however, just a few hours earlier we were all thankful. Now don’t get me wrong, I know a lot of people that have to utilize these Black Friday deals to be able to have a Christmas for their kids and they are truly grateful for these sales. However, the ones that get out of line and cause mayhem, well, who knows.

This year as I sat at a bar eating lunch before I headed into work. I heard many people complaining about things that really don’t matter, being rude to the service staff (as I am sure they were rude to any staff that had to work instead of being with family), and just not being thankful whatsoever. No matter what the staff did to accommodate them it wasn’t good enough. I even heard stories of people throwing their food at people because the order came out incorrect. Take a moment to think about that. Having a tantrum the day after being thankful.

You see we have all become very ungrateful on what we have due to marketing and other things fighting for our attention. Always have to latest and greatest. Not understanding that mistakes may be made. I am not saying that having stuff and other nice things are not great, or a great salary. What I am saying is we need to be like the character at the beginning of this post. We need to be thankful for what we have and during this season be courteous to anyone that is taking care of you whether it is a restaurant, retail store, gas station, wherever you are at and someone is taking care of you. Be kind, be appreciative, as you never know what someone else may have just said and done to them before they cross your path.

So do something appreciative to them. Kind words or whatever comes to mind. Be a light to them. Be thankful for what you have. Take care of those that are less fortunate (please don’t post about it as, well, it’s about them and not you).

This is a season of peace, joy, love, thankfulness, hope, promise, excitement, wonder, and so much more. If we focus on the good and kick the negative we can make our own ripples.

Be Bold! Be Courageous! Be Fearless!

Joel