The psalm we are on today is psalm 25 and I think it’s a good one for Thanksgiving because the theme is hope. The word hope appears in the psalm 3 times and it is a powerful word.

How would you define hope? The dictionary defines it as, “The feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.” I gotta be honest and say that I don’t think about hope very often. I kind of take it for granted. I have a good amount of hope, but fear tends to choke the life out of it sometimes. Hope and fear both pertain to the future. Fear looks at the future and says, “Things are probably not going to work out for the best. Things are going to go wrong and it’s just a matter of time before they do.” Hope looks at the same situation and says, “Things are going to work out for the best. Even the things that happen that I don’t want will be used by God for my good.” (Romans 8:28)

So, how do we turn the corner to where we are looking more through the lens of hope as opposed to fear. This is where thankfulness comes in. Worry is to fear what thankfulness is to hope. Let me explain. Worry and thanksgiving are both amplification systems. If you spend your time worrying and worrying, your fear will skyrocket and hope will go out the window. That being said, if you spend your time thanking God and practicing gratitude, hope will increase and fear will begin to dissipate.

Thankfulness or worry….fear or hope. A lot of times we think that we’ll just feel our way into the best practices, but this is often not the case. Sometimes you just have to tell your mind where to go and trust that your heart and life will follow suit. Let’s all choose to be thankful today. Happy Thanksgiving!