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As a kid, did your mom or dad ever make you write \u201cthank you\u201d notes? Maybe after your birthday party or after Christmas, they would sit you down at the kitchen table with a stack of notecards and stamps. You would have to write until your hand hurt, sentences like \u201cthank you for the socks.\u201d I know some of those thank-you notes were probably done because your parents were making you do it. It can be hard to be thankful for socks when you are a kid. But still, you wrote the notecard. Sometimes people associate thankfulness with obligation. Sometimes we feel forced to be thankful, because sometimes things in life don\u2019t go well. In those situations, it can be hard to be thankful. Yet, the Bible calls those who love God to be grateful. In Psalms, it says, \u201cI will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord.\u201d Thankfulness is called a sacrifice. Sacrifices are often difficult. It means we give up something, or we have to lose something \u2013 time, or habits, or other difficult things. Yet this sacrifice is what God asks of us. Our gratefulness is not based on our circumstances \u2013 it is based on our love for God. The love of God is truly something to be grateful for, regardless of our circumstances. We don\u2019t deserve God\u2019s love, yet He lavished it on us. Let\u2019s share this thankfulness with the world. This is Luis Palau.