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Key Bible Verse: Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done (Colossians 2:7). Bonus Reading: Deuteronomy 8:2-5

One Sunday Jim Burns challenged our congregation to begin each day by thanking God for at least 25 things. I decided to test out thank therapy when I got into the car to drive to work instead of flipping on news radio. My willingness to try this cheesy-sounding approach came from something close to home. Chrissy and I had made cataclysmic changes in our budget to clear all open debt from our family books.

Chrissy was the architect of this austere plan, and I was chafing from the limits imposed on my personal freedom as the man of the house. I was packing lunches to take to work, having more dinners in, cutting out Starbucks, and on and on. Withdrawals from the ATM required joint committee meetings. Every available cent was going toward erasing our debt. No exceptions. I knew it had to be done, but I certainly wasn't happy about it.

Enter thank therapy. Thank You, God, for my car. Thank You for this coffee. Thank You, God, for Chrissy. Thank you for Cara, Ryan, and Jenna. Thank You for this bran muffin. Thank You, God, for a paycheck and providing my needs. Thank you for this day. Thank you for my church. Thank You for your Word.[continued 11/24]

—Kenny Luck in Risk

My Response: Do I focus on what I'm denied or what I've received?

Thought to Apply: Thou hast given so much to me. Give me one thing more—a grateful heart.—GEORGE HERBERT (English poet)

Adapted from Risk (WaterBrook, 2006) by permission.

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, keep me from accumulating things just to fill a void in my life that only You can fill.

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