Many mornings find me on my exercise bike, enjoying retirement with my favorite biking partner, Kelly Ripa.

The bike is positioned so I also get a nice view of our front yard and intersection. Prominent is a stop sign. It reminds me, for 45 minutes, to put my troubles on hold and enjoy good conversation and nature ‘s beauty.

“Stop” took on a new meaning for me a few months ago. It became short hand for the words. “Say Thanks On Purpose.”

That may sound a little harsh, but we can so easily be swayed into thinking negatively, and thankful thinking gets lost.

This past year I would enjoy seeing the second installment of the movie “Inside Out.” Stream it if you can. It pictures a young girl going through puberty and all the emotions inside her head, joy, anger, anxiety, etc. It really is a well-made, thought-provoking film.

We can have our heads filled with 50,000 thoughts in a day’s time.

People think pastors bound out of bed singing praise songs. I’d like to think that is right, but I know my mornings can be clouded, like everyone else’s with worries, angers and a host of other things. That’s when I have to tell my mind to “STOP”.

“Saying Thanks On Purpose” can help me over each day’s hurdles. I recently remembered the elementary school project for Thanksgiving, the five-fingered turkey.

You would trace your hand and using the thumb as the head, decorate the others as feathers, and make a brightly colored turkey.

Simple thing, but you can see that each morning there are five things you can be thankful for:

• The eyes with which you read this article.

• The roof over your head, the food the on the table, the clothing and heat that keeps you save this winter.

Look around you.

It can be so easy to get sidetracked. Yet even little kids can put us oldsters to shame. Speaking of little kids I loved the following story, “Christopher Hit Me!”

It was Thanksgiving Day. Breakfast was over and the kids were playing in a room full of toys. Their parents lingered over a second cup of coffee. In a short while, the parents heard the sound of a brief scuffle. Then Mary, their 3-year-old, burst into the kitchen in tears. “Mommy! Daddy! Christopher hit me!” she sobbed.

Before either of them could think of a reply, the calm voice of their 9-year-old daughter came from the play room, “It’s Thanksgiving Day — we must be thankful. Thank God, he didn’t bite you!!” www.tkayala.com

Perhaps Daniel Defoe gave us some good advice through his fictional character Robinson Crusoe. The first thing that Crusoe did when he found himself on a deserted island was to make out a list.

On one side of the list, he wrote down all his problems. On the other side of the list, he wrote down all of his blessings. On one side he wrote: I do not have any clothes. On the other side he wrote: But it’s warm and I don’t really need any.

On one side he wrote: All of the provisions were lost. On the other side he wrote: But there’s plenty of fresh fruit and water on the island.

And on down the list he went. In this fashion he discovered that for every negative aspect about his situation, there was a positive aspect, something to be thankful for. It is easy to find ourselves on an island of despair.

Perhaps it is time for us to sit down and take an inventory of our blessings. www.tkayala.com

Thankfulness doesn’t come easy these days. I always remember the quote I learned in a communications class. “Commercial television is made up of a series of commercials interrupted by programming.” Each commercial is designed to make us feel something is lacking in our lives.

Martin Luther gave us good counsel when he said, “You can’t stop the birds from flying in the air, but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair.”

The following is a good reminder for us today. Share it with students and loved ones.

The first winter the pilgrims spent in their new home was very cold. Food was in short supply. Some days they only had enough food for each person to have five kernels of corn for the day. But spring came, they planted food and it grew. From then on, when a time of Thanksgiving came around, the Pilgrims put five kernels of corn on each plate and used them to remind themselves of their blessings. Let us also remember:

• The first kernel reminds us of God’s love and care for us.

• The second kernel reminds us of our love for each other.

• The third kernel reminds us of the autumn beauty around us.

• The fourth kernel reminds us of our family, friends and co-workers.

• The fifth kernel reminds us we are free people.

— Author Unknown

Finally, as we look forward to Thanksgiving Day, let us be reminded that each day can be a Thanksgiving Day.

Some years ago, I found that by putting the word “Now” in front of each line of a familiar table grace, I could sing it to the tune of the doxology (Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow”) or “On Jordan’s Banks,” or any “Long Meter” tune comprising eight beats per line. I encourage this for a daily grace and anytime you need to center your when over whelmed by the world’s anxieties.

Now thank You for the world so sweet.

Now thank You for food we eat.

Now thank You for the birds that sing.

Now thank You, Lord, for everything.

In any election year, half the country will be happy and the other won’t. It reminds me of the ancient masks of comedy and drama you’d see at the be beginning of the many Three Stooges shorts.

Bills, international pressures, family concerns all may prey on our minds. I find relief in taking stock of all God has blessed us with. “Saying Thanks On Purpose” can be the remedy for many a sadness.

I encourage you to take a pad and pencil and each day try to write down ala Robinson Crusoe, five things you are the most thankful for. In three weeks’ time, notice how you “attitude of gratitude “will be expanded.

You can expand your world by looking around and see who you express that thanksgiving with in lives of caring and sharing.

Martin Luther would say, “God does not need our good works, but our neighbor does.”

Say Thanks On Purpose, and then let God propose to you how that thanksgiving may be lived out to our human family.

In everything think thanks!

Keep up the God work!