A Message of Thanksgiving: The Gift of Adversity is Personal Growth

It's definitely been a tough couple of years for many folks with job losses, layoffs, cutbacks, outsourcing, being asked to take pay cuts, and other cost cutting measures that have impacted our standard of living.  But still there has been a lot of positive that has come out of our economic slow down and the associated uncertainties.  Most importantly I believe that many people have reassessed their priorities in life.  I for one have created a budget and am following Dave Ramsey's program.  I put much more thought into what I buy and if I REALLY need it.  I waste less, want less, and appreciate more.  The true treasures in life are not in what you buy or what you own but in what you give.  Giving from the heart, giving to others in times of need, making a habit of giving thanks, will enhance ones self-worth and will provide more lasting joy and satisfaction than anything you can possibly buy.  Joy is not the absence of suffering but learning to enjoy life despite our problems. 

The gift we get from our personal challenges and adversity is the ability to grow and learn from the situation. The problems we encounter on a daily basis can cause immense frustration and irritation or they can produce maturity as we learn and grow in our knowledge and how we react to our circumstances. We learn more from our struggles and failures than from our successes.  Of course we all want to be successful but getting there is a process and there will be many hurdles along the way. Suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character.  Are you willing to learn from your failures?  What positive take aways do you glean from your daily challenges?  Do you have a vision for the future, a mission, goals and objectives to help you plunge ahead despite roadblocks along the way?  Is your focus on the past with all it's regrets or do you look to the future with its promises and hope?  An appropriate message from Rick Warren as it relates to our struggles and times of adversity is that "we can contol whether an experience makes us a bitter person or a better person."  I chose better, what about you?  Remember that tough times can be times of intense personal growth.

So during this week of Thanksgiving, the upcoming holiday season, and throughout the year let us count our blessings and focus on what we do have versus what we think we lack.  Thanksgiving should become a habit and not just something we celebrate one day a year.  Take time to express gratitude and you will enrich not only the lives of others but your own as well.  Make a habit of giving thanks and counting your blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving