Being thankful for the life you've been given

This past week we celebrated one of my personal favorite holidays - Thanksgiving. What better holiday to have than to be with friends and family and doing nothing but being thankful for the blessings God has given us? I was thinking about all of the things I am thankful for and the list seemed to go on and on – Family, friends, things, food, God, life….wait a minute? Life? Am I truly 100% thankful for the life God has given me? If I am thankful for this life then do I treat myself this way? I then started thinking about how it is that I treat myself. Some of the things I came up with truly appalled me and I realized that I would never dream of treating someone else the way that I treat myself. I would never tell my friends or family that they are fat, or ugly, or stupid and I would never force or even allow my children to overeat or gorge themselves on unhealthy things – so why do I do this to myself? The bible tells us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Can you imagine trying to love someone else the way you love yourself? We are commanded to love ourselves even before we can love others. Filling our own heads with negative self talk and treating our bodies so poorly that we are barely able to function in life is not loving ourselves or being thankful for what God has given us. There are so many people in this life that would love to trade places with one of us. Think of people who can’t help their health situations – do you think given the chance to live "normally" that they would treat their bodies the way we do? I think not. Life is a precious gift from God. None of us are the same. We all have qualities that make us special and beautiful in our own right. Being able to look past your own faults is the first step in overcoming your insecurities and moving forward with the plans God has in store for you. Be thankful for your life and take pride in the good qualities you have and you will gain confidence and self esteem. You are made in the image and likeness of a living God. Do not insult Him by putting down His creation - You.

To go along with this subject we did these worksheets: "I am thankful for my..."
Print this off and fill this out with 10 things (or as many as you can think of) that you are thankful for about yourself. It can be anything from your personality or to your physical appearance but do not put things about your family or others because we are all thankful for those things. I want you to really think about the way you view yourself and the life God has given you. I want you to see the good in yourself and not just the negative. Hang this up somewhere that you can see everyday to remind you of what a great person you truly are!