Beyond Turkey: The Art of Speaking Life at Thanksgiving

God wants to use your gratitude to transform your Thanksgiving gatherings this year, turning potential family drama into meaningful connection through the power of genuine appreciation and blessing.

• The art of gratitude isn't just saying "thank you" but reflecting God's goodness and grace through how we live
• Gratitude becomes contagious when we focus on blessing others rather than expecting to be blessed
• Like paint on canvas that only reveals its color when light hits it, our lives reflect God's goodness when we're grateful
• Learning to forgive difficult family members before gatherings creates space for genuine gratitude
• A powerful Thanksgiving tradition: have each person at the table share what they love about someone else
• The most grateful people are often those who have experienced brokenness and found God's restoration
• We can do more good by being a light for Jesus than through political arguments or criticism
• Genuine blessing catches people off guard and can completely change relationships

This Thanksgiving, prepare your heart by praying for those you'll gather with. Ask God to show you something you genuinely admire in each person that you can publicly acknowledge and celebrate.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to The Father Difference
• 1:53 Thanksgiving and Family Drama
• 10:57 Life as a Work of Art
• 21:39 The True Colors of Gratitude
• 31:50 Blessing Others: A Thanksgiving Tradition
• 45:29 Closing Prayer and Fatherhood Academy Announcement

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:33

Ava, welcome. I'm looking forward to tonight. So we got things.

SPEAKER_00: 0:39

What kind of father do you want to be? What kind of man do you want to become for your family and for yourself? If you've ever wondered how to step into the fullness of your role as a father, husband, and man of God, then you're in the right place. Here at the Father Difference, our mission is to inspire and equip men to be the best fathers they can be. It's a powerful mission. And today, we're going to explore exactly how you can take steps toward that calling. Whether you're a father, a son, a husband, grandfather, single dad, stepfather, or just looking to grow, I believe God has something powerful for you in today's message. Whether you're tuning in live or watching this later, we are so excited to have you here. If this is what you're looking for, then subscribe so you can tune in each week to the Father Difference Live. You can sign up below. And now your host, a husband, father, grandfather, author, and former NFL player, Pastor Ed McLasson.

SPEAKER_01: 1:53

Hey, well, welcome. Uh, we are just a couple of days away from Turkey Day. And tonight we're gonna talk about just this that the art of gratitude. And what does that look like? Uh, welcome, a bunch of guys uh joining from all over the place, a number of different places. Welcome to Rumble and Instagram, Hogan, G Fowl, uh Jordo there, Mr. Kennedy. Welcome here tonight at the Art of Gratitude. I'm your host, Ed Tanya McGlassen, and we're gonna talk tonight about really the art of gratitude and how to get into that place as a man, a husband. We've actually invited some gals to join us tonight because we normally have a Thursday night group, and but it's Thanksgiving, and we're all gonna have trichtopane poisoning and be laying on our couches during right after the Thanksgiving meal. Anybody have those stories that have happened in your life? So grateful that you're here. Love your comments, questions. You can do that. And so I want to get right into what we're gonna talk about tonight, and really about the art of gratitude and really what does that mean in our lives, and how do we get into that place where we can really connect with our family, our kids, our wife, this Thanksgiving? Because we can eat eat the meals, and and it's so, you know, it's a typical kind of scenario that there's a lot of uh hesitation by family members because of certain people at Thanksgiving dinner. Oh, I had some whopper Thanksgiving dinners in my family growing up. How about you? And you know, I you know, I I remember so many of those memories that, you know, could have really turned out badly, but learned how to how to really begin to understand how to love that person that's across from you. And plus, we got the added dimension of people who are, you know, really upset about the election and you know, the uh brainiacs and the media and in a certain party were actually telling family members to not spend the holidays with their family members if they voted for Trump. So sad. So little. Those newscatchers don't live in our homes, and they don't know about the power of forgiveness and how we can build lives together. So, we're gonna talk about how do we kind of enter into this thing that in my title tonight, The Art of Gratitude. So, when you think about gratitude, what do you think about? Somebody who's grateful, right? Somebody who's that thanks you a lot for everything. Is that really the gratitude that that's sustainable in our life? Because it's really hard to thank somebody if you don't feel very thankful. And, you know, and and people are struggling. And so tonight we're gonna do that. And this the subtitle of our uh uh time together is having a wonderful Thanksgiving despite family drama. Anybody have family drama where you know people are just like, you know, they're coming over. Oh, there's one of my friends, Kelly Lawley, one of the best real estate people I know in Southern California. Get a shout out to her. You want her to sell your house so you can move to Tennessee and buy a mansion. A lot of people seem to be doing that these days. Well, not us. We love California. And so I want to start out by a funny story that happened a couple Thanksgivings ago. I was at the market here getting my last-minute Thanksgiving items. You know, you know the ones you forget and you got to rush out before people come over. And so Jill sent me off to make her special appetizer. And I went to the the market down in Newport Beach and was in line and getting ready to check out when a cart came up behind me and bumped me and bumped me pretty hard. And I I kind of whipped around thinking it was somebody that I knew. And uh I saw these, which I found out later, two brothers and a sister. And they had a kind of a scally look on your face. And I, you know, I looked down at their cart and I looked at mine, and and my cart that I was unloading was, you know, stuff for food, and their cart was three gallons of vodka and mixes, and so I I looked at them and said, thirsty. And the sister like piped right up. She goes, Oh hell, family's getting together. Only way we can get together is if we drink. And I said, Well, you know, I'm sure that uh celebration's fun, but maybe maybe there's a better way. And she said, Well, I'm all ears. And the and the and the brothers weren't having much of it. I looked uh at her and I said, You know, I found out that one of the things that happens at Thanksgiving is that people who've not reconciled with one another during the year come together on the holidays and they still carry some hurt between you and that other person. And because it's not forgiven and it's not dealt with, you sort of bring it to the party with you. For instance, how many of you can see like a grumpy person from a mile away? You know, or somebody you see in the in the store, and they got this look on their face, and they're not having anything. And uh I don't meet too many grummy people. The other day I was actually in my neighborhood, and it was was just had an incredible day, and I was driving back on my street, and and there was a gal walking out there, and all of a sudden, you know, I look I stopped and I said, Well, hey, sister, it was a grandma, right? And she's walking, she's got her headphones on, and and so I said, Hi, how are you doing? She like, do I know you? And I said, No, I just wanted to tell you that Jesus loves you. And I was like expecting, oh, thank you. Oh, he loves you too, right? But it wasn't her reaction. Her reaction was buzz off. I mean, she just screamed at the top of her lung, buzz off. And I went, my goodness, my goodness. Because you know, you're gonna meet people that are are just really angry and broken. And I looked at her, she's scowling at me, and she realizes she can't beat me up because I'm bigger than her. And so I just looked at her and I said, He still loves you. Have a great day. She was not happy. You know, it happens. Sometimes you'll you come in and want to love somebody and they're just doing this to you. So, what do you do? How do you have a Thanksgiving that you make a memory with your children, with your relatives, and even with those people that are sort of hard to get along? Well, I'm gonna share with you some things that I've learned. And this is the here's the secret to the whole thing. It's about how you prepare your own heart to go be with the people that maybe are a challenge to you, even those love. At the end, I'm gonna share with you a really special tradition that we do in our family that completely changes Thanksgiving. And I can't wait to share with you. Before I get there, let's let's go to the the next slide here. And and part of it is is, you know, I'm gonna ask you once the once's the last time you saw like a great work of art, you know, one of those things that you see and it's just you know, like you go to a gallery or somebody's home, and you just you can't stop looking at it because it's of the color and the shapes. And you know, I have an artist's heart, and I'm also an oil painter. And and so when I see art or I or see clouds, you know, I just kind of go, whoa, that and you know, everything that's on a canvas or uh or any kind of medium is a it's a it's a reflection of light that goes off of whatever this color of that pigment is. Those those pigments, like here's one of my tubes of paint, it it has there's no color. This represents sort of what it might be right here, but there's no real color that's you know that you know that this has in itself, paint by itself without light, is is darkness. But when light comes, it when it hits that painting a certain way, whatever those colors are, it reflects off those colors, goes back to your eyes, and based on what those pigments are, which come from the earth somewhere or from chemicals that they they put together, produces something that's that's beautiful. And and I you know, I've had those times I remember seeing in my first Monet in, you know, in in Washington, D.C. and the different galleries I've been to around the world. And where you sat there, you were kind of taken in by the colors, right? The the colors of those paintings, the the the thousands of little strokes of of the paintbrushes, trying, and then you're there trying to discern the story the artist is trying to display. Because in every in every great work of art, even in the great work of art of you as a person, you have a story that God is writing with your life to communicate to the people that are around you. And it's a powerful thing when you are able to connect with that in your own life and and display it, and and and with all the colors that God wants to display through your life. Welcome, Mark. Way to join there, my friend. And and so, you know, part of what happens, you know, when when we have you know art and things that we do, is that, you know, here's a here's here's one of my paintings. Maybe you've seen this, but this is a painting that I did. It's called this glory beckons, and it's it's a painting and a vision that I had of what the people of Israel saw when they first saw Mount Sinai. And it's a really big painting. It was a backdrop to our stage, and it's called its glory beckons. And you imagine going into this valley and seeing part of the reflection in that pool that's up on that mountain edge, and then seeing this mountain. And in that valley, over the Bible says that over two million people were, you know, camped out there. I even put the rock there, you know, in the background that has a crack in it that split open and water came out. But 2.1 million people were there underneath that mountain as Moses went up to get the Ten Commandments. You can almost hear Charlton Hesson movie. And so that painting, you know, is is it's all these different colors there, but it's only a painting that can be seen if there's light on it. And it's the same way as your life. There, there's a light on your life that comes from your life that's a reflection of who you are as a person. And so, what's that color that's coming off of you? And what we're talking about really is the art of gratitude. Because something happens when you get grateful as a person, because there won't be darkness in you, there'll be light coming out of you. And you know, you might have some people, like I did in my neighborhood, who basically tell me to buzz off. Oh, hey, there's my pastor, Dave King, just showed up here. Welcome, Dave. He's awesome. He he's he's an awesome uh man of God. And uh, but uh welcome tonight. And so something happens when the reflection of God's light, you know, hits your life, and he's painted these colors onto your life that reflect the the glory and the revelation of Jesus to the people who see your life. It's the ultimate painting that God has is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And so if I were to ask you, what what is the painting of your life look like? I mean, what what is it, you know, what is the art of gratitude, but what is what does your painting look like? And in the Bible, gratitude actually means extending favor towards or giving grace and kindness back in response. For example, saying thank you doesn't automatically means that you're grateful. You may be just saying it to be polite. Whereas thankfulness generally acknowledges the the effort of the person that you're grateful for. And it goes on. Gratitude for us is is is the fruit of a heart that's filled with God's goodness and grace. And when we've learned how to receive God's goodness and grace to our life, it it causes this response in us. It causes this response in us to to show gratefulness and how we live back towards God. We're incredibly grateful because of all the places that he's forgiven us. You want to see the most grateful person in the world is is not the person with the most money and and the person that has the most stuff and and and every and hits all of his goals. The the most grateful person in the world is the person who was really broken, and God's come in and changed your story. And your response is not just thank you, God, but I give my life back to you, and I'm gonna be grateful towards you in everything I do. Because how can I possibly repay you for all the good you have done towards me? See, that's the heart of gratefulness. It's in a real sense, it's the art of gratefulness on your life. It's you know, it's really God showing gratefulness in how you live towards him. You give your life back, you you because he saved your life. You you reflect back to him and the world, his goodness and and his grace on your life. You don't hold that back, you don't hide it because you're so grateful that he's given you something that there's no way you deserved it or you earned it. And here I wrote this, you know, speaking from my artist's heart, that the true colors of our lives are are only seen by the light of the revelation of Jesus and his goodness towards us. You know, the more I um spend time with the Lord, the more I spend time in his goodness and confession and and reading his word and and following him and uh and obeying him, which is part of my gratefulness back to God. It's it's an act of of being grateful when you obey him and you do things that you don't want to do. You do it because he's given you so much. And I think sometimes during the holidays we we forget that we really are who we are based on how much of God's love and light and and and hope and grace has come towards us. Because that gives us a capacity. Now, hear me when I say this, it gives us a capacity to love people the same way he loved us. And by the way, there is nothing better than that in life. It gives you the capacity to love those that are hard to love at Thanksgiving, gives you the capacity to love your children when they're disappointing you, or your spouse, or your boyfriend, or your girlfriend, or your boss. It's the ability to quickly forgive and quickly let go of the hurt because you realize that there's nobody on earth that can sin against you to the same level that you and I have sinned against God. And so the only response to just the gratitude we have is that we show it to people that have hurt us. It's one of the most powerful examples of being a light to your community and the people that you love, is that you love people who don't like you, or maybe even people who have declared themselves your enemy. That's why Jesus said, Do good to those who persecute you. Do good to those who despitefully use you. For great is your reward in heaven. Something happens when we learn and to receive that for ourselves and learn to give that to our kids. Well, this this goes on, and I want to share a couple of verses with you that will kind of tie this together. And so I just want to ask you in your life, if your life is a work of art, then what are the colors and images people see in your life? Do they see gratitude on display, or are you still getting even? Or are you still trying to work your salvation out kind of your own way, and you're angry at yourself? Gratitude's your way. Check this out, this verse. It starts here in two parts of this. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Gosh, I love that. We do all these things, you know, even when we're teaching somebody or loving or correcting somebody, you know, we do it with all wisdom, with the same gentleness that God's done it towards us. With Psalms, David wrote the Psalms after during his struggles with the Lord. And when you read it, God breaks through in those psalms when he's going through one day, he's, and though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you know, you're with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. I mean, it it's this picture that David's walking through these and crouching enemies around him, but he looks to the Lord and he's grateful to the Lord who's there to rescue him, which is so powerful and potent for us, especially in a day where bitterness has become the the the fruit of the world. You know, being grateful in your heart. He goes on the next part of this verse I love in there in Colossians, and whatever you do, whatever you do, whether in woo word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. So, whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. When you wake up in the in the in the morning, do you do you kind of declare that over yourself that today, whatever I'm doing, I'm gonna do this so that Jesus is seen and celebrated, and everybody knows he must have risen from the dead if Ed is saved. If there's anything that's good that comes out of me, it's not because I'm somehow a superior human being than anybody else. The only way that anything good comes out of me is because it's a reflection of the light of Christ off of those things he's deposited in my heart. And when we put on gratitude and we're thankful to the Lord, and the light of Christ shines off of you and you reflect back, the world sees your life as a masterpiece, a thing to behold. I I've met some amazing saints, you know, you know, one of my favorite people in the whole world is Carol Wimber. Now, you might not know her in her name. Carol is the wife of John Wimber. She's remarried now. John's in heaven and the founder. But when when I'm around her and she looks at me, I I feel like Jesus is looking at me. You ever had people like that in your life where they just they just emanate this presence and this love and because they've yielded their life to him and made it their mission of their life to receive from him over and over again. And if she's an older saint now and getting ready for heaven, and and yet she was fashioned in her life by going through so many hard things, and uh in the w having to bury one of her sons, and you know, struggling, you know, in with make being a pastor's wife, and and so she she lives one of the most anointed, marvelous lives I I think of anybody I ever met. And when I when I get around, I love getting around her. She's at church on every Sunday, sitting there, and and she's got the sweetest smile on her face. And I know that if you're one of her kids, she probably had moments when it wasn't so sweet, but you can tell that when you're around a saint like that, the reflection off of her life is this reflection of gratitude for everything that God has done. Even even in having to bury your husband earlier than she anticipated, and being a part of seeing God move all over the world in extraordinary ways through the vineyard movement. Even with all that, she's still tender because she gives her heart every day to being grateful. Even in the midst of growing older and her body not quite working. I don't know about you, but I I want to end my story like that. I'm gonna end my story with the Lord feeling like I'm finishing my race and I'm looking forward to being with him. But then when people get around me, crisis scene. How about you? What's the the reflection that comes off of your life? He wants to he wants other people to see him. Let's go on. A few more thoughts. Thanks for hanging with me. You know, like the color of paint to the is to the artist. Now I'm talking artists speak, okay? So if you're not an artist, but you've been a little kid. You know, one of the things that was fascinating about uh read a great article this past week about why kids like art so much. And probably why you did. You might not have thought you were very good, but when you're little, when my grandkids come over, they're not they're not like uh trying to, you know, paint the Mona Lisa. You know, they're they're they just they're trying to tell a story. And matter of fact, I'll show you, I'll show you something that if I can find it here. Yeah, let me pull this up here. I'm gonna brag on one of my little grannies came over. Here's a here's a here's a couple of uh shots. I want to I want to show you some of my incredible artwork in my life. Well, here's uh here's my grandson and I. Is that like a great picture of what? One of my tooth fell fell out and he lost his. And we were like twins. Is that just like the greatest, you know? And in here's two of my other works of art here. On the beach, having Coca-Licius and Ani. You know, they're just incredible. Think about your family and everyone else and those and those hugs that you can you never get back, you know, the those ones with your children that mean so much as you come together at this Thanksgiving. Well, I promise you a piece of artwork. Let me show it to you. Here's my granddaughter who decided she was going to paint a picture about this whale. And that's her first, you know, watercolor kind of thing of her with a with a whale. And she's good, isn't she? And I asked her about this. And I said, so what? Well, tell me this story. He goes, Oh, he's a he was a big lonely whale that likes to jump out of the water and let everybody see how beautiful and how big he is. And see, that that's the way, that's the way kids do artwork. They tell stories. And as you get older, you start realizing you're not, you don't think you're that good as an artist, because I don't think art's a gift. I I think it's a a lifelong discipline of learning. But the creative part about telling stories with your art is one of the most profound and powerful things that you can discover as an adult. That's why a lot of people I've been meeting are doing artwork, yours truly. And so part of this verse, this next section here is that if like the color of paint is to the artist, gratitude is the color that becomes. Now, listen to my words here. I wrote them specifically, a contagious becomes contagious to people whose life reflects bitterness more than gratitude. Something can happen in a family in a life when a person that's that's reflecting God's color of gratitude out of his life towards people that are around him. Where you're loving them, when you're blessing them, when you're you're not going, oh great, auntie's here. You're you're speaking life. That's incredibly powerful. And the the words, your words and the way you love God and are the colors that make this your heart of yours grateful. And so if you want to be able to really impact your family this holiday time, don't just pray that that you know, God, you know, my auntie's coming over, and you know, Lord, she's a crazy person, or or this person, or this family member. But why don't you step back just a little bit and spend some time asking yourself the question, how gr what is the color that comes off of my life? Because you know, I I meet Christians well-meaning who think it's their job to correct everybody who's not obeying God's word. Well, you know, the way you get somebody to listen to you when they're stuck in a hole is for you not to be stuck in the same hole because you have an opinion about what you change in their life, but you become the real article, like I was talking about Carol Wimber. You know, when she's when she speaks, she gave me a word a number of times in my story from the Lord, something she prayed about. And man, it just hit me, and it was so good and so life-giving to me, and it made me hungry for more. That's what happens when you allow God to paint gratitude on you, is one of your main colors that comes out of your heart, and you're grateful to him for all that he's done, and you live in this place of being so grateful that it unlocks the gift of generosity where you are generous, loving people who don't deserve to be loved. Think about people that are in your story that you've pushed away, or kids that have disappointed you. How do you treat them when they blow it? Do you make them pay for it for for months? I mean, I used to do that. I used to I used to be, you know, really strong and hard towards my kids, and and God began to deal with that. And you know, just a simple scripture, you know, that I'm I'm supposed to forgive my children the same way God's forgiven me. That's completely in it. When you learn to do that, and you you learn to have a heart towards people that are broken, like God has towards you, because you're broken without him. Is there anybody you can't spend time with? No. And you can build relationships with people that that are even completely on the opposite perspective of of your political party. You know, I I had that happen to me on an airplane ride. And my seat mate, uh we j end up jumping onto a new plane because both of us figured out that our plane had not mechanical, and so we ran, you know, in the days that I could run. I got on that escalator. Let me say that. I walked fast on an escalator. It was like I was a pro athlete, once again. And so we get on a plane, we sit down, and we're talking, and and so I looked at him and I and I shared with him. I said, So what what has God made you for? I love asking that question. And he goes, Well, it's like nobody's ever asked me that. I said, Well, tell me what what makes your heart sing? I mean, what what do you do that's this you know, just incredible that changes the world? And he goes, Well, I'm a fundraiser. I went, really? And he goes, Yeah, I'm I I you know, I helped raise about a billion, not quite, but about a billion dollars to get Obama like this present. I went, wow. That that's amazing. And I he said, Well, well, well, who are you? So I knew that God has kind of set up a divine appointment with me. Welcome, Caleb and Klaus and Frank, and and another few guys join tonight. And I and I said to him, Well, I'm uh, and I I do this for just striking off conversation, I'm a I'm a cultural revolutionary. He he looks at me like, a what? And he goes, are you a are you a democrat? I went, no. He goes, oh, so you're one of them. I go, well, what's one of them? A Republican? I said, no, I'm not a Republican. You're not a Republican? Oh, so you're an independent. So he's looking for another vote, right? I said, no, I'm not an independent. Well, well, who do you vote for? And I said, so you don't have a party? I go, no, no. Well, I'm part of a party. It's a huge party, and it's got a king who's got a kingdom and has a throne and his throne is out of this world, his name Jesus. He looks at me and he goes, So you're one of them? I go, yeah, I'm exactly one of those guys. Well, who do you vote for? I said, I vote for the guy that's or the gal who's closest. I said gal now, but it was guy when I talked to him because there wasn't a female running for president like we just had. I said, I vote for the person that's closest to the king that I love and serve. And they're really a far, they're really far off, but there's somebody who could be closer. And he just smiles at me. And he says, So, but so tell me, what do you do? You're not cultural revolutionary. I said, No, basically, God kind of sends me around. I've been in many countries around the world doing events for men and coaching men and helping them. And God brings me guys, maybe a guy like you, who's sold out for a dream or a vision or a company or something, and has lost the heart of his children. And he wants them back. And I mean to tell you, it was like a holy bomb went off between me and this guy, and that we really had no real political connection. And he didn't see me as the opposite party, but a guy who gave him a word, and he starts, he wasn't weeping, but he was teary-eyed. He turned away, looked out the window. He was at the window seat, and then he heard back. He goes, Can you help me? You know, I've lost the heart of my daughter. I've been so involved in politics and business that I'd do anything to get her back. And I say, Well, you're you're sitting next to a guy who's had to learn how to do that with my own kids. I was sold out playing football. Then ministry for a while, and I started losing my kids. And he said, What do I do? And I I shared the love of Jesus with this guy. And we had the most amazing conversation. And I prayed with him at the end, and he asked Christ in his life, and and just, I mean, we couldn't really hug, you know, there wasn't enough room, but he was just shook by the love of God that came from a broken guy like me, who loved this guy that was in front of me. So we were getting ready to leave the airplane, and I grabbed this bag for him and had mine. And there were people around us that were sort of looking at me. I could tell they maybe were listening to the conversation, and he looks at me and goes, you know, don't take this wrong, but I've never met anybody like you. And I smiled at him and I said, Well, maybe you're hanging around the wrong group. I said, Sir, there are millions and millions of men like me who build a ladder to our dreams and started losing our families. And this guy named Jesus came in our stories and turned us around. And he said, I'm gonna find a church and I'm gonna do, I'm gonna read your book. I gave him my book. I love that story, and but uh, you know what I love more is that God filled me with gratitude for a guy who was just on the way, and so that maybe we're was far off from him. I mean, how many of you, you know, have a family member who's could really use something this holiday time from you? And so, how do you do that? I'm gonna just share one more scripture with you, and then something that you could do at Thanksgiving that could make an incredible difference for your family if you've never done this. And it'll it'll make your Thanksgiving the best Thanksgiving you have ever been at, and it will have very little to do with the food, but it'll have something to do with something that you do in gratitude with Jesus. Well, here it is. It says in the Thessalonians, rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ. There's something that happens when you turn your grumbling into rejoicing. And the reason we rejoice is we don't rejoice in our failure, we don't rejoice in necessarily in our things, but we rejoice in the Lord. We're constantly praising him and living to thank him for all the things he's done for us. We're praying continually, we're we're having this conversation all the time. Lord, what are you doing? And that's something you do at Thanksgiving. Father, what are you doing with with those that are around me? How do I reach my son that's here, my daughter that's here? How do I reach my wife? How do I serve her? How do I do what I need to do? You're constantly connected. So you're rejoicing, you're connecting, and at the same time you're doing that, you're giving thanks for all that he's done. You're being grateful, no matter what your circumstances are, no matter what your circumstances are, because the Bible says this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. See, God knows when we rejoice and pray and give thanks, we live a whole different day. When's the last time you you had a day like that? Well, you're you're rejoicing about everything. People think you're a little crazy. Well, I rejoice in the Lord and who he is. I pray to him and his answers because I go through hard things just like you. I get pressed down, I get depressed, I I get I go through hard things just like all of us do, but we can focus on the hard things and start grumbling and mumbling. And the next thing you know, we've talked ourselves into a really good depression. Anybody ever do that? I can't tell you how many times I've blown that in my life. But when I open myself to just back into that scripture and and I'm rejoicing, I'm rejoicing in who God is. That's how you rejoice. And I'm praying and trusting his provision and answers to those things that are impossible. And I'm thanking him in all those circumstances, and even thanking him for the people he's bringing to my house at Thanksgiving that doesn't like me very much. Or maybe you don't like them. Maybe this is the Thanksgiving where you change all of that. And you can change the atmosphere that you're in if you do this. And and part of this comes from, I call this, you know, sharing the art of gratitude this Thanksgiving. And let me tell you, tell me how tell you how this started. Started many years ago in one of our Thanksgivings, where my son Edward kind of took a cue from me because of me really focusing in on being grateful, but loving my children all the time, even when they've blown it. I'm speaking life into them, I'm loving them, I'm I'm doing everything that I can to be the best fathers. God's fathering me. And you know, the art of my life is starting to rub off on them, and and is I is I'm doing all those kind of things. And so we're sitting down and we've we've killed the fatted beasts, we're sitting around the turkey. And my son says, Hey dad, why don't we go around the table? And and one by one, everybody gets to pick one person and tell everybody else at the table what you love about that person. And I mean to tell you, it was amazing. And he goes, I'm gonna start, and then he blesses me as a son. Of course, I'm weeping, and the gratitude that God has put in him and his own gratitude towards me as his father just came out of those words as he blessed me. Then I blessed someone, and Jessica did, and Jill did, and Mary did, and Lucas did, and Joshua did, and all around our table we blessed one or mother and use this line. Have I told you this is what I'm gonna tell you something. This is what I love about you, and I am so grateful. And it's talking about real things you see in them that you love. And let me tell you, it can completely change the a person when you speak life into them that maybe is living in darkness. Maybe you have a family member that's struggling and everyone's afraid of talking about something. What would happen if you began to talk about what you love about them, not about their political differences or about this or about that? We say, hey, let's not talk about politics, and then people think that that's the magic formula. And no, the magic formula is let's talk about something that gives life, and that's what you love about that person that's in front of you. Because how do you do it? God fills you with that art of gratitude. He paints the gratitude in you because you're you're so you just so grateful for what he's done is you got to tell everybody about it. And the best way you can do that is practice telling that person in front of you how much you love them and what you love about them. Well, you might say, Well, I got some people that I couldn't do that with. Well, probably have to forgive them first. So you might have to privately go, Lord, I choose to forgive them because I don't like them right now, and say, Lord, show me something to bless this relative that's in front of me. And I mean to tell you, God will do a miracle. I mean, I had a miracle happen to me. And it happened with my Aunt Barbara that I love so much, but we were kind of separated. She she had kind of her story living my my mother's sister. And, you know, the family, you know, the family, you know, as it happens, you can get very political. And next thing you know, you've separated people that God wants you to love. Through politics, through elected people. And elections are important and they have consequences. But what's more important is you can do more good by being a light for Jesus in the world than the greatest president of all time. Imagine if we all did that and and lived in this incredible gratefulness and begin to bless one another. Because something happens when blessing comes from your lips towards another person. It catches them off guard. And I'm gonna end with the story, going a little bit long on this, but it's just it's such an important thing. I I'm gonna do my best in communicating it to you, and then we're gonna pray at the end. But I I I began to learn this, and it took me years to to relearn. How many of you have learned the same lesson from God like 10 times? Maybe 20 times. You'll need to raise your hands out there. And uh I had this player on my football team on the on the Giants, and in the kind of the way of our team in the beginning of the season was when, you know, as many NFL locker rooms, you're sitting on your stool, guys are chewing skull or getting ready for practice or having their favorite drink and putting their pads on. And there was a player from Alabama, a defensive player that I practice against all the time, that would make fun of me as I walked into the locker room. And he'd just make fun of me. And everybody'd laughed. And my my neck name was like Reverend Ed. Why do you think they gave me that thing? Because I made it my goal being a football player on that team, more than winning the Super Bowl, to love those guys so that they might encounter Jesus. Because having a lot of money and fame without Jesus, you're gonna be a mess. I don't care who you are. With Jesus, you'll be like some of these young quarterbacks today in the end zone, taking a knee before they play and then after the game. Love those guys. That's who I vote for, by the way, as football players. I vote for the Christians. I just I root for so that they could stand up and be a great example to our young people, because so few of them have loving dads right now. And so here's Curtis, and his name's Curtis McGriff. And Curtis was he was poking fun at me, and and so it would it would bother me, and I and I would get into the banter, you know, and and I would I'd give it right back to them, and it'd be kind of who's gonna make fun of one another more than the other. But this day I walked in and I started, I was praying. I said, God, show me how to love this guy. And and so he he's sort of making fun of me, and it and it's all in Jess, but you know, even poking fun and Jess and the family is hurtful. I've done that. And so he did what he, you know, he said some things, and everyone goes, whoa, they're waiting for now. What's that emac, what's Reverend Ed gonna do? And the Lord just gave he just put this in me. And it was just he said, I just said to him, you know, Curtis, you know what I love about you and I mean the whole tenor of the room just begins to change, and they're all looking at me like, what are you doing? I said, I love I love that every time I practice against you, Curtis, you give your best. And you're you're a great football player, you're an incredibly talented defensive tackle. And I have to, I have to beyond my game working just as hard as you, and you make me a better player every single day, every single snap. And if we had more guys like you on our team, and we had that same intensity as Curtis does, I think we'd go to the playoffs for the first time in 17 years. And I mean, everybody was like, Whoa. And it was just quiet, and then, yeah, yeah, that's right, man. Curtis is, and it's sort of it's sort of people started, yeah, you're that way too. And I mean, we were like banishing off one another, encouraging one another. And so we're getting ready to go out to practice, and Curtis comes by me and gets in front of me, and he's a hawk, man. He's a big, strong, incredible athlete from the University of Alabama. And he looks at me and he goes, Man, thank you for that. And nobody nobody speaks to me that way. Thank you. That meant a lot to me. I'm really sorry I've been funning you, but you're a great player too. And I smile down and I said, Curtis says, let's go, let's go stir these guys up and go to the playoffs. And you know what? Our whole team began to shift. Now, I'm not saying it happened because of that moment, but that locker room changed that day. So I want you as you approach Thanksgiving, I want you to begin, I want you to pray for everybody who's come into your house. Write their names down, people you're gonna be there with, maybe you're going to Auntie's house or somebody's house, and ask God to show you something that you admire about them that you could publicly in front of everybody tell them what you love about them and bless them. You're gonna be like a match to dry kindling and just begin to bless one another. Because there is nothing more powerful in the whole world, in my opinion, than a broken guy who learns how to use his lips not to blame other people, but to bless them the same way that God blesses us. And that's when we are the most like Christ. So anyway, we're getting ready. We we we we're running out of time. I actually have a coaching group that I'm gonna meet with in a minute and 30 seconds. Yours truly has become long-winded, but I want to give this to you and pray for you. And before we we get off our program, I want to let you know that a brand new thing is going to be released here soon. Just want to let you know. Would love for you to be a part of it. It's called the Fatherhood Academy. And we're launching this, and it's a way for that we empower men to be the spiritual champions and fathers their family needs. Maybe you know a guy or you want to be one of those guys. And if you'll just get a hold of me and send me an email and say, Ed, I want to find out about this and I want to be a part of this. Uh, you can email me, you can connect with me, and I would just be be honored. You can send me an email to Ed Chandy at blessing of the father.com. But you want to be a part of this, this launch. Maybe you're in a place where you could become a partner to help us launch this because we have some modules and things that we need to invest in to be able to really present a powerful thing for our students that are going to be coming, men, broken men, businessmen, leaders. Uh, we have a module for churches and podcasts, a lot of stuff. I'll let you know more about that next week. But before I get off, let's pray. Father, I thank you for my friends that are watching. I am so grateful to be with them before Thanksgiving. And I pray that you would connect them to your gratitude and they would have the best Thanksgiving they've ever had. I pray for healing. In relationships, I pray you would bring them together and do something profound in them. Do something profound in them as they connect to you. And maybe you've been far away from Jesus. Well, all you got to do is say, Jesus, I'm I want to come back. I want you to work that gratitude in my own heart. I'm tired of being bitter. I'm tired of being alone. I'm tired of being mad. I want to learn to be grateful, to bless other people this Thanksgiving in my family, in my life. And so, Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters. I pray you would bless their times. I pray you would expand them in a powerful way. Expand them, Lord. Use them, Lord, and give them the best Thanksgiving other in the name of Jesus. And all God's people said, Amen. Well, I want one minute over. I got another group waiting on me. I gotta go. But if you're interested in finding out more about what we're doing, uh, you can go to my website at thefatherdifference.com and connect there. You could even find out about our academy there. And uh, we even have a special deal right now. You do not want to miss it. I can't tell you it's too special. And I will see you next week, on next Tuesday, and next Thursday for you gals that came in. Remember, the father loves you and he gave his son to let you know. Thank you for being here. I am so grateful for you. Happy Thanksgiving.