Thank Goodness or Show Appreciation for Christ's Sake

Having read some wonderful posts on things people are thankful for, I was in a quandary.
Do I :
do the same thing and sound like I am trying to make my list as good or better than theirs,
write about what I am going to do today,
or ignore the idea that this is turkey day, and write about what comes to my mind.

I have decided to do none of the above - simply because I am not trying to be more creative but rather because this is my Spiritual blog and Spiritual Stuff is what I put on here.

I have read in books and heard the words of wise spiritual people on the subject of Gratitude (being thankful) and here is some of the stuff I have retained:

1) Be grateful - first and foremost for the gift of life, your life
So here goes - Thank you all of you who are responsible for my being alive here in this body today.

The idea is one of those people you are thanking is yourself. It is important to appreciate the special being you are. It is a special challenge being incarnated here on earth, at least I like to think so, So give yourself an extra pat on the back for that.

2) Be grateful to all your invisible helpers (angels, guides, master teachers . . . etc) It has been my experience, that they do appreciate your thanks whenever and however you give it. Some of my helpers nearly fainted (do spirits faint) when I first began to thank them. ('Oh my God, can you believe it, he thanked us - hey Raphael, look he is thanking us - oh Glorious day, hell must be getting cold)
You might feel a pleasant tingling sensation in your body when you do this - that is your helpers appreciating your expression of gratitude.

3) Warning ! This is advanced level Thanking here - not all people are ready to do this one - So if you think I am crazy for saying this (you might be right) just skip trying to do this.

Give Thank you's to all your enemies and all the challenges (tough times), you have had and the ones you will encounter. Appreciate their efforts in being mean and cruel to you. Strangely enough, some of your worst enemies in this life might be your best friends in the afterlife. They are the ones who agree to take on the thankless role of 'bad guy' so you could learn something. (Note: I said some not all). Your challenges come so you can grow spiritually. If you get sick of the same challenge over and over again, guess what - you might not be learning your lesson.

At this point, I must put in my disclaimer. I am not really a master of the last principle. I still have buttons and still get people coming up to me and pushing them. And I still am not too happy about that. But today is a day to be grateful, so Thank You crappy people who try to wreak havoc on my life (you know who you are)). Ugh, that was tough.

Finally, I will make a few random thank you's.
Thank you to the people who invented all the technology that goes into making this blog, including spell checker. Thank you to all freinds and family. Thank you readers of this blog.

And thank God that this sermonette is over - I hope you did not get too bored.
Happy Turkey day,
Frank