Thanksgiving acts as a dog-ear between the bookends of a year. A page bent over to signal a pause — wait here, linger, give thanks. Each year as the weather brings a chill, the trees outside cling to final, drooping leaves, and holiday music begins filling the supermarkets, there is a change inside of us as well. Something stirs and tells us to look inward. Are we thankful this season? How will gratitude change us going into the new year? We all wish gratitude stretched beyond this season. We want our lives to be marked by continual thanksgiving.

Like King David in Psalm 21, we want to recount God’s blessings. In speaking of himself to God, King David said, “For You meet him (David) with rich blessings … his glory is great through Your salvation; splendor and majesty You bestow on him … for You make him most blessed forever; You make him glad with the joy of Your presence.”

God’s gifts permeate our days. They are not random, but rather breathe with rhyme and reason — concentric circles pulsing from the heart of God. They are dependable, because He is. “It is good to give thanks to the Lord,” we read in Psalm 92:1-2, “to declare Your steadfast love in the morning, and Your faithfulness by night” New mercies arrive with dawn’s light, and faithfulness carries us through the evening. His blessings are steadfast. This season poses the question: will we stop to notice?

David knew how to count his blessings — “You meet him with rich blessings.” Further, he looked beyond the gifts to the giver Himself. “You make him glad with the joy of Your presence,” he concluded. Communion with our Father shines a spotlight on His blessings. As we look to Him, we see the fruit of His work in our lives.

Outside of His presence, all skews. What becomes of every good and perfect gift from above? Perhaps we lose sight of them, our eyes drawn instead to earthly distractions. Or we stamp our branding on them. We see our own efforts and accomplishments instead of His gracious giving.

“His glory is great through Your salvation,” David declared of himself, “splendor and majesty You bestow on him.” As like a garment, God clothes us in splendor. Every accomplishment and victory bears His mark. His blessings exist in their pure, unadulterated state when we stand near enough to Him that His light is cast upon our lives. It is when we wander away that we lose sight of the giver of good gifts — so let us draw near this season.

Let us live a grateful life by coming to know the giver of life in a deeper and more intimate way. Let us pause to see every blessing, and credit it to the One who faithfully gives us everything for life and godliness. Let us bend our knees, open His Word, and spend sweet time in communion with our Father. Let us give thanks, for He meets us with rich blessings.

“Know that the Lord, He is God! It is He who made us, and we are His … Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name!” Psalm 100:3-4