I know Thanksgiving is 'over.' But my mind has been on thanks a lot lately. And how giving thanks is really a giving yourself a gift.

Seems to me that the stores put up Christmas decor earlier and earlier each year. When will we stop being so consumed with consuming? Giving produces such greater joy.

So does giving thanks. And let's be honest. If you're reading this article, like me you probably have every reason to be thankful. You almost certainly have all of your basic needs met.

Too often it takes losing something to be grateful for it. Being thankful for our blessings in the present will bless us more than we can imagine.

Hug your family close this thanksgiving if they're around, not because some people don't have their families, but because you have yours. Tell 'em you love them. No matter how annoying or frustrating they might be, they're still family. Hug your friends close too, because some people walk through this whole life lonely.

It took me wrecking my car to be thankful for my daily safety.

It took me losing my horse to be overwhelming grateful that I was blessed to have her for one month.

And how many times do I thank God for a healthy body, healthy mind? Almost never.

He sustains each breath, each motor neuron signal, each phase of cell mitosis, and rarely gets a thanks. And yet in his mercy and grace allows us to live happy lives, many of us completely denying His existence.

We complain about everything bad in our lives while taking the most beautiful and simple things for granted.

This last summer I was immeasurably blessed to go on a two or so week mission trip to North Carolina.

I walked in the trailer of a special needs couple to almost be knocked over by an overwhelming conglomeration of scents that included dog pee and raw sewage.

Their sink stood on two chairs. There was a square foot hole in their floor, where rats would enter the trailer at night.

Raw sewage flowed out of the trailer in a stream down the hill. Windows were in pieces.

Yet, they were happy, they were content. Sure they are special needs, but even so.

How often are we thankful just to be alive?

Ha. We live in a culture of death, of suicide, that views life as cheap.

Well, it's not. Life is beautiful. It's a treasure. It can be so full of purpose and wonder and adventure.

It really just depends on your perspective, on your expectation.

Living in continual thanks to God brings us closer to Him, makes us more content.

Living thankfully is living joyfully, so count your blessings

Name them one by one.

Count your many blessings,

See what God has done.