In an effort to emphasize the season of Thanksgiving, I encourage you to celebrate it all through the month of November. Earlier I explained my 21 Days of Giving Thanks challenge, which you can read about here. Today let’s take time to give thanks for the people God has placed in our lives.

Day 6 – Give Thanks for Current Friends

I’ve lost touch with most of my friends from high school, though we may chat occasionally. Friends come and go, not so much because we do or do not like them, but because life changes. They move to a different state. They transition to a new stage of life. They get married or have kids or take a new job or whatever it may be. We may try to keep up via social media, which is great, but it’s just not the same.

Current friends are unique because they live with you through this stage of your life. As relational creatures, we all share a simple, intangible, yet very real need to have friends who can simply be with us. Who is it in your life that you can see as a special gift from God right now?

God does this for us all the time, if we pay attention closely. He placed Ruth in Naomi’s life, though Naomi didn’t appreciate it at first. She was too caught up in her grief and heartache (and she had a lot of it!) to recognize a Moabite widow girl as God’s greatest gift to her. And God has a Ruth in your life, too.

Challenge: Take time today to think about who God has placed in your life right now as a sign of his grace, and thank him for it. Then go and thank your friend for being there for you.

CP