Quail Lake Community Church

Daily Devotional #1,677

A mom told the story of her taking her three youngsters to get ice cream at a local fast-food place. There was a teenage girl who took their orders and, in a moment, handed the soft serve ice cream cones to each of the kids. Without a word, they took the cones and began to devour the ice cream. The mother watched them as they moved towards the door and then gently but firmly took all three cones ...and threw them in the trash! The kids were all stunned and howled at how she had taken their ice cream. She motioned for them to quiet down and calmly said that young lady took your order, prepared your cones and gave them to each one of you. And none of you said a word of thanks to her. She is just a teenager working here but she is worthy of your respect and your thanks. I don't want you to ever forget to thank people like her or even your mother for the things that they do for 
you or give to you. I thought that was dramatic, but I get it. We have pretty much become thankless people, to folks around us and tragically, to God himself. One of the marks of a heart changed by God is a spirit of thanksgiving. When we have that, we don't see people as mindless servants, but as real people. And to say "Thank You" is so easy to do. And then what about God? How often do we treat him as a supernatural vending machine? He is a loving and giving God and we must work to not take him for granted, but to continually have thankful hearts and actually say "Thank You". So, as we come up to Thanksgiving this year...let's make a point to give thanks in every circumstance and to every person who does a kindness to us. People will feel appreciated, and you will make the God you serve look good! Here's our Bible verse for today... 
Colossians 3:17 NLT And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. 
Remember I'm praying for you! With love, PJ