Borrowed thoughts on Thankfulness

I am on an email list "One Year Bible" ( mike@oneyearbibleblog.com )
which is intended to help you read the bible through in one year by mixing it up and bring in commentary and other interesting asides. I dive in with great readiness only to find that I got distracted and need to dive in again..so here I am diving in again and reading this great stuff that Mike wrote this week about THANKFULNESS made me want to share:

"This week in Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 10 we read: "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you." What a great verse! Many say that it is because of this verse that we traditionally say grace at meal time. Interesting that this verse indicates that the Israelites were to praise God after eating - which, actually, is sometimes how I say grace today now too - when I forget to say grace before eating! :-) Do you say grace or offer up some sort of prayer of thanksgiving to God at each meal? Why or why not? Do you think it would be pleasing to God if you did? I think the other thing this verse above gets at is that we humans have a tendency to "forget" God in the good times. In the bad times, maybe we do a decent job of praying to God and trying to stay close to Him. But in the good times, I know that sometimes I can forget Who really blessed me with the good times. I think it is so important for us to remember each and every day this one thing - God has given us everything. Every single good thing we have in our life comes from God. Our family. Our friends. Our physical abilities. Even the very air we breathe. It ALL comes from God. And, while I think it is pleasing to God for us to praise him for these good things - I also think it is ultimately healthy for us to praise God for the good things he has given us. Because, when we truly thank God each and every day for even very simple things - our eyesight, our 12 year old car that still runs fine, etc. etc. - we realize how very blessed we really are, and then I think we have less of a chance of feeling sorry for ourselves. We are blessed! How are you doing on praising God for the good things he has given you in your life? Now that we are in this Easter & Spring season, will you make a conscious effort to really praise and thank God each and every day? Think this might be pleasing to God? Think this might be healthy for you?"