Thanksgiving is the holiday that gets no respect. The Thanksgiving holiday falls right between Halloween and Christmas, the two holidays on which Americans spend the most money. As soon as Halloween is over the stores take down their Halloween displays and start putting out the Christmas goods. Poor Thanksgiving gets lost in the shuffle. That is unfortunate. Thanksgiving should be more than an afterthought. The idea of being thankful to God is mentioned approximately 70 times in the New Testament. The realization that every good thing we have in this life comes from God should make us, as Christians, the most thankful of people. One of the barriers to thankfulness is a habit that some people have of always looking at the bad side of things. For instance, in 1 Timothy 2:1-2 the apostle Paul says, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” In our country, it doesn’t matter who is in power, half of the country won’t like it. While it is true that our government isn’t perfect, just be thankful that it isn’t as bad as it could be. We need to dwell less on the bad things in life and spend more time being thankful for the good things. In Ephesians 5:20 Paul says, “giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. In Philippians 4:6 we read, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God”. In Colossians 3:17 Paul writes, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him”. We should spend less of our time thinking about all the negative things in life and instead think about all the ways in which God has blessed us. “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).