Thanksgiving is a time for giving thanks, but why do we only give the most thanks on Thanksgiving? For me, when people only give thanks on Thanksgiving it sounds like they are only thankful during that time. I believe that it is very important to give thanks all year round. No matter what your life is like I can guarantee that giving thanks will not only make you feel better, but it will make the people around you feel better as well.
Giving thanks is very effortless. Yes, many people give gifts to show thanks but that's not the only way. Doing a friendly gesture can even be a way of showing thanks. When I went on a mission trip in Montana with my church, we rebuilt some parts of worn-down houses, and the people that we did that for were often working more than one job to help provide for their families and were working long hours, so they didn't have time to fix up their homes. I believe that our way of giving thanks to them was just going and helping them out. Not only did we thank them but they thanked us by just smiling and saying thank you. Some of them even made us treats and gave us water.
Small gestures can be such an amazing way to show thanks. It doesn't take a lot to say thank you. Many people don't realize how many opportunities they have throughout the day just to say thank you. When you are checking out at a grocery store or someone holds the door for you, it is always important to say thank you. When I've opened a door for someone and they don't say thank you, it feels like they didn't appreciate that gesture and it makes me not want to do those nice gestures anymore. But if someone is going out of their way to do something for you it is always important to show them that you appreciate what they did, even if you don't know them.
Many people in my generation don't realize how much their parents do for them. Nowadays, we don't say thank you when someone does something nice for us, but I think it is important to thank your parents every chance you get because they honestly do so much for us. It doesn't matter how old you are or how old your parents are. Saying thank you is an awesome way of showing you love and respect them. Randomly saying thank you is not bad either. Giving random thanks is something that can flip someone's mood from bad to good. I challenge you to try to notice the small things that your parents do for you and just say thanks because you may not realize those things right now but I guarantee you will notice them and regret not saying thank you once you don't have them anymore.
