thanksgiving for grace

eph. 1:3-6

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5he predestined us[b] for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

i was hoping to avoid the obligatory "thanksgiving" journal entry, if for no other reason than it seems too obviously cliche'. but, i find myself at my parents house for thanksgiving, and quite thankful to be here.
i purposfully chose this verse because it is so easily out of my mind when i should be dwelling on it daily. it is truth that christ has blessd us, has blessed us with "every" spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. so often we look for fulfillment or validation in so many places, something to prove to us or others that we have merit before god. paul tells us that not only are we blessed, but the blessings have been prepared before the foundations of the world. they aren't a recent idea or decision. before we were ever born, or had ever done anything good or bad, god chose us without any forseen merit in us for adoption in christ (salvation). it was *his* will, not our right.
that is grace.
our praise to him should be completely and totally void of any thought of our having anything to do with our standing before god. the reason we are his, is because he chose us. praise god, for if left to our own sinfulness and rebellion, we would never choose him. (read rom. 3... for just one of many times scripture teaches this truth)
on a grander scale, our blessings serve a larger purpose than or own mere pleasure. our adoption and blessing has a purpose... to serve as a springboard for praise of "his glorious grace".
on this thanksgiving, i want to be mindfulof how much i have been blessed, and to recognize god's grace-but not to stop there, with simple recognition. but to move from recognition to praise of our Gracious Father.