I'm Thankful for Friends

Each day until Thanksgiving, Everyday Truth is looking at a different reason to be thankful in a family devotional. Use these devotionals with your kids to help keep your family focused on giving thanks. If you missed the introductory post, check it out here for directions on creating a "Thanksgiving wall." When you're done wiht the devotional head on over to the Everyday Truth Facebook page and join in the discussion of why we're thankful for our families.

Do you have a best friend? Someone that you like to hang out with? Someone that you want to talk to when something exciting happens?

My daughter has a best friend that she's known since she was born. They love to hang out together. If my daughter is bored or has something exciting to share, she wants to immediately see her friend. They go to the movies together, sit together at lunch and have sleepovers. They never seem to run out of things to talk about. They've even shared birthday parties.

Friends are one of God's gifts to us. He gives us friends so we don't have to go through life alone. God knows that sometimes life gets tough. He gives us friends to encourage us and cheer us up during the tough times.

Think about your friends and what you like to do with them. Share your favorite thing to do with your friends. Now, think about how much fun that thing would be to do by yourself. Generally, the things we do with our friends aren't as much fun when we do them by ourselves. It's hard to play a board game or jump rope by yourself. A game of basketball isn't a game unless there's more than one person.

Friends can also help us out. They can make a job seem easier and go by quicker. If your mom or dad told you to go rake all the leaves in your yard, it would seem like a big job. However, if you found a couple of friends to help, it wouldn't take any time at all to finish.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

If we have good friends, then they will be there to help us up when we fall down. They will help us complete a task. They can help us stand up to a bully. We can do all those things alone, but the job is easier with a friend.

Be thankful for your friends today. Add some leaves or sticky notes to your Thanksgiving wall with the names of your friends on them. And be sure to tell your friends how thankful you are for them. A great way to do that is to write them a note and tell them how grateful you are for their friendship. Make it a point to thank at least one of your friends for their friendship today.

Pray together and thank God for your friends. Thank Him for all the ways that friends make life more fun.