The Thanksgiving Game Show

We are here at the Thanksgiving Game Show where giving thanks breads JOY!

(Audience applause)

Today we have 4 contestants who are playing for the grand prize.  Who will leave here OVERjoyed?

(Cue music)

Let’s meet our contestants:

Contestant #1 is a restaurant manager.  He lives with his wife and daughter in a bungalow in Marina Del Rey, California.  Say hello to Bobby!

(Audience applause)

Contestant #2 is a housewife. Formally in real estate she spends her time picking up and dropping off kids as well as keeping up with house management.  Say hello to Mary!

(Audience applause)

Contestant #3 owns his own business.  He has a condo by the beach but spends most of his time at his 3 story home near the city.  He spends much of his free time on his boat.  Say hello to Tom!

(Audience applause)

Contestant # 4 has three kids in Jr. High School, her ailing mother-in-law lives in their home and she just found out that her husband got laid off.  Say hello to Jennifer!

(Audience applause)

Here at the Thanksgiving Game Show we know that the biggest Joy stealer is what?

(Everyone) DISCONTENTMENT!

Contestant #1, what does it feel like to live in Marina Del Rey?

Bobby: Well it sounds nice but we live in a bungalow not far from busy streets.  I know that I could be a very joyful person if we lived up on the hill away from the busy streets.  Or if we moved away from busy California all together, like to the country side.  The restaurant I work for has chains all over the United States; I could be transferred to any of them!

Well it sounds like a case of

(Everyone) DISCONTENTMENT!

Bobby, you have a bad case of, “The grass is always greener” syndrome.  Said another way, discontentment in where you are in life.  Contentment is not found “out there” Contentment is found “inside”.  People like you are always looking somewhere else for a joyful life when it is waiting for them right in there own homes and in their own neighborhoods.  If you lived up on that hill then you would see another location that you would perceive as better again missing the mark for a Joy filled life.  Bobby, how can you be grateful for where you are right here and right now?

(Audience applause)

Contestant #2, how is it being in house management?

Mary:  Well the only house I manage is my own.  I use to be helping others achieve their dreams in real estate.  Oh the things I could be doing if I wasn’t cooped up in the home looking after everyone and everything here.  Oh the places I could go if I was not running everyone around to school, activities and doctor visits!  I could be joyful if I was in real estate again.

Well it sounds like a case of

(Everyone) DISCONTENTMENT!

Mary, you have an identity crisis on your hands.  You are discontent in what you do.  You are a wife and a mom.  You are really good at it and yet you think that a certain title and job description will give you a satisfied life, a joy you so desperately need.  People like you miss the mark because they do not value where they are and what they are doing, thinking that in some way it is inferior to what they could be doing “out there”.  Living a satisfied life does not need a real estate title attached to it.  Mary, how can you be grateful for the esteemed titles you are living out right here and right now?

(Audience applause)

Contestant #3, what’s it like to have so much that can make you happy?

Tom: I’m not happy at all.  If I just had the bigger and better stuff then I could really be happy.  It would be easier to get to my appointments if I had my own driver and jet.  Now that would bring Joy.

Well it sounds like a case of

(Everyone) DISCONTENTMENT!

Tom, you will never live a joy filled life as long as you are discontent in what you have.  People have more and less, having is not wrong.  It’s when the having has got you wanting more and more.  People like you miss the mark because they are never satisfied with what they have.  They spend their whole life upgrading and feeling miserable with any step “back”.  Joy is never found in the things you own, if you place it there you will be miserably dissatisfied until you die.  Tom, how can you be grateful for what you have right now?  How little can you be satisfied with?

(Audience applause)

Contestant #4, how is it living with people who love you?

Jennifer:  My kids are teenagers who constantly test the limit, if they were just more like the kids down the street.  And my mother-in-law is always making suggestion on how to keep up with the house, if she could just be more like my mom.  My husband just lost his job last week and he is moving in slow motion, if only he was more motivated like my sister’s husband.

Well it sounds like a case of

(Everyone) DISCONTENTMENT!

Jennifer, you are discontent with who you are with.  “If only they were different.”  People like you have strained relationships because they think that their Joy comes from who they are around.  They allow other’s faults and imperfections determine how satisfied they are.  They spend time trying to change others; wishing that they were like someone else or even worse wishing they were someone else.  Jennifer, the people around you are not at fault for your life attitude.  Change starts with you.  How can you expect to have a better husband if you are not willing to be a better wife?  How can you be grateful for the people in your life today?

(Audience applause, commercial break in 20 sec)

When we come back we will talk about how our contestants can, in their day to day lives, be joyful always.  (1 Thessalonians 5:16)  Give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:17) Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12)  Be glad and rejoice before God. (Psalm 68:3)  Receive with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4) Sing joyfully to the Lord because it is fitting for the upright to praise him. (Psalm 33:1)  Have a happy heart that makes faces cheerful and not bring on heartache which crushes the spirit. (Proverbs 15:13)  How they can really allow the Joy of the Lord, His Joy and delight in them, His walking with them, his comfort, his support, his encouragement, his compassion, his Word be their strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) To stop complaining and grumbling (James 5:9) and to be anxious about nothing but in EVERYTHING be THANKFUL bringing their concerns to God and trusting Him with the results (Philippians 4:6) because giving thanks breads Joy!  Who will allow their life attitude to take a shift?  Who will turn off the voice of discontentment and turn on the Voice of gratitude?  Who wants the grand prize of an OVERjoyed life?  All of that, when we return to the Thanksgiving Game Show!