by Rebecca Kocsis

October is in the rearview mirror, though I suspect the remnants of it are loitering around your house. I’ll bet you have buckets of candies yet to be counted, organized, traded, and consumed, along with superhero costumes not yet in the closet. What’s next? According to the retailers, it’s Christmas, of course!

Have you noticed that the world, as a whole, skips over Thanksgiving and heads right into Christmas and New Year? I get it. To people who have no hope, presents and parties are infinitely more attractive than prayers of thanksgiving. And yes, 2020 has been rough. The world would agree it would be good to get this year over with.

However, to those of us called the children of God, we know that even in dark times, God is accomplishing His eternal purposes. For that, we can be thankful. Regardless of the difficulties we as individuals and as a nation have faced this year, we can use this month as an opportunity to count our blessings.

One of the first ones on my list? How blessed we are that we can teach our children at home. Having the freedom to intentionally disciple our children while giving them a biblically-based education at home is priceless. This alone is enough to make us not skip Thanksgiving.

Even though the task is sometimes laced with trials, those trials are intended to refine our faith. They also create in us the likeness of Christ. Even though we sometimes make mistakes, God still allows us to keep going. He will never throw in the towel and be “done with us.” There are days we want to quit, but that’s another story. Aren’t you thankful we have a gracious and loving Heavenly Father? How wonderful that He is merciful and slow to anger.

Have an awesome autumn as you count your blessings, give thanks to God, and train your children in godliness. What are you most grateful for in this season of Thanksgiving?