Theme: Be Thankful

Heavenly Father, how wonderful it is to know you as Creator, Lord, and Father.  How amazing it is to experience your love, mercy, and grace.  Each day as journey through this life I see your workings at every turn.  As I reflect on my life, I’m humbled by the love you have shown me.

I thank you God for providing me with earthly parents that have shown me a better way.  I thank you father for blessing with a beautiful family of my own.  For my wife, a true help-mate, I give you thanks.  I’m in awe that you knew I would need her and sent her to me.  Thank you for blessing me with a daughter.  I think I partly understand how you must feel seeing your children laugh, cry, play, work, achieve, and grow.  What a blessing!

Father, I’m thankful for the Church.  To be a part of your kingdom here on earth is a magnificent thing.  To know there are others, like me, that have been summoned out to share in the burdens and blessings of this life is a wonderful thing.  To know that I’m not the only one called to do your work and that I can lean on them in times of need is of great comfort.  To know that I’m a participant in something that is so much bigger and better than anything this world could ever offer gives me strength to endure whatever trials or tribulations come my way.  I praise you name and give you thanks for these things.

Finally Father, I thank you for Jesus.  His story is like none other.  I need Jesus.  I need his example, his life, the cross, and the resurrection.  But you knew that and because of this I’m eternally grateful.  I pray that my life reflects my gratitude.  I pray that my life is an offering of thanks.

Amen.

Todd Adams
Dublin, TX    

Theme: Be Thankful!

In the Still

I put on my running shoes and headed outside for my morning run. The temperature was a brisk 46 degrees. The wind was a mere whisper and the sun shone bright and warm. The fall air was so fresh it infiltrated my body with lively and blithesome feelings. It was one of those picture perfect Texas  mornings! The dogs were frisky and anxious to begin. They love our runs  and race through the fields along the road.

The joyful chirps of the birds filled the air and the heavy dew looked like glittering jewels along the countryside. The trees were varying shades of yellow, red, orange, and sprinkles of green not yet faded from summer. Deer eating acorns underneath the trees echoed the peacefulness that surrounded me.

I love serene mornings like this where I can feel His presence. I refer to it as being in “the still”. It was a perfect glorious morning and I was enjoying my run with God, just me and the dogs. 

The silent beauty of the morning was suddenly interrupted. In an instant my calmness in the still turned to complete fear.  A feral hog, one of the ugliest creatures on earth, with its long, stiff hair, tusks anywhere from 3-5 inches in length, and a large head in proportion to its body rushed out of some brush and came toward me. Wild hogs have increasingly populated Texas. They are one of the most destructive species on the planet.  Their mission in life is to uproot and destroy. They have even been known to eat their piglets.  Remind you of anyone?

At first, I hesitated to see if there were more hogs and which way the hog was running. It didn’t take long to figure out he was headed my way. That’s when my legs turned me the other direction and began running in what I would describe as a world record-breaking sprint. My three dogs immediately came to the rescue and jumped on the hog only to realize that he was more than an enemy, he was ferocious. They quickly joined me in my run for home and safety.

The above account is just like life. We can have a picture perfect day and BOOM, out of no where we are attacked by the enemy.  The enemy is the creature that rears its ugly head unexpectantly.  As I reflected on the morning event, I thanked God for my safety as well as the dogs.  It reminded me that we are beyond blessed every single day directly by God’s love, care, protection and indirectly through family and friends.   I realized that day I am most thankful that our enemy was destroyed by Christ’s death. Through His death, we were given a safe haven and the gate of eternal life was opened. There is nothing more awesome than that. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death”. (Hebrews 2: 14-18) Christ’s death rescued us from Satan’s hold on death and freed us from the fear of death.  “But it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”. (II Timothy 2:11)

 Precious Father, as we gather together at a time of special thanksgiving, we celebrate and remember that Jesus is the only one who can free us from our enemies – fear, worry, anxiety, self-hatred, anger, depression, jealousy, rage, insecurity, and hopelessness. Thank you for your passionate concern for the truth. We praise that you are totally given over to righteousness and utterly hateful of wickedness. Thank you for those precious moments that we are in “the still”. Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)\

Carla Henson

Tuscola, Texas

Theme: Be Thankful!

When I think about Thanksgiving, I think about the gospel of John. I think about the stories of the Samaritan woman, or “the woman at the well,” the official’s son, the lame man, the man born blind, and Lazarus.

They lived in the midst of secret sin, public sin, illness, disabilities, and even experienced death. Jesus overcame all of these things on their behalf.

Is Thanksgiving a “Christian” holiday? No. But is it a great reminder that Jesus overcame the world so that we could live “in” it but be not “of” it? Absolutely. We aren’t called to ignore it. We aren’t called to isolate ourselves from it. We aren’t called to blend into it. We are called to engage it, to seek to change it, and to love those who are deeply entrenched in it. Because Jesus did all of those things.

To me, Thanksgiving is the perfect precursor to the Christian season called Advent, which begins approximately a month before Christmas Day. The purpose of this season is to prepare for the arrival of the Messiah, to prepare the way for Him, to eagerly anticipate the offer of new life that He brings. As I think about these things, I ponder how I should be preparing. How am I making myself ready for Him? How am I having a hand in preparing the world for His coming? As an act of thanksgiving, I should be living in a way that reflects my understanding of the sacrifice He made for me by choosing to come here in the first place.

These sinners and invalids in the gospel of John, they understand what it feels like to be imperfect in the most socially unacceptable ways. They also understand what it feels like to be eternally freed from imperfection. How do they show their gratitude?

“Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the men, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah?” They left the town and made their way to Him” (John 4).

“Then he himself believed, along with his whole household” (John 4).

“The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well” (John 5).

“‘This is an amazing thing,’ the man told them. ‘You don’t know where He is from, yet He opened my eyes! We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He listens to him. Throughout history no one has ever heard of someone opening the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He wouldn’t be able to do anything’” (John 9).

“‘Yes, Lord,’ she told Him, ‘I believe You are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world’” (John 11).

There are two responses to the healing that Jesus gives--belief or unbelief. The lame man in John 5 responds with unbelief. The rest of them respond confessionally--they choose belief, then they share it with everyone who will listen. I don’t know a better way to show our thankfulness than by willingly risking rejection in the name of Jesus. After all, He did exactly that on our behalf: “He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, yet the world did not recognize Him. He came to His own, but His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God...”

Father,

Thank you for showing us how to live in gratitude through the life, death, and resurrection of your Son. We love you so much and are so thankful for the saving life you offer so freely.

Through Jesus, Amen.

Erin E. Daugherty, Abilene Christian University

Be Thankful!

What a "Dinging" Car can Teach Us

My family is gloriously accustomed to not having a car payment, and are willing to put up with some interesting quirks of the vehicles to maintain that status. The one where my car will start and then die is less amusing than some, but so far it's been fairly harmless.

Years ago I had a vehicle with a particularly amusing quirk. Some sort of sensor has been thrown and after you started the car and all of the other dinging, beeping, buzzing, and bells and whistles shut off the car would start dinging. Loudly. Five sets of five dings, with about 15 seconds between sets. It originally didn't bother me too much, but started the day before we took a short trip.

On this trip we learned that sometimes after an hour or so the car would burst forth with another 25 dings, grieving that it was running so long without dinging. Neither my husband nor I really enjoy repetitive loud noises, but my husband really did not enjoy the new feature of the car. So I decided that it's all in your attitude about the dings. The dings are simply our car reminding us, "I have served you well for many years. Do NOT take me for granted. Just a reminder..."

Troy didn't really appreciate my over-the-top rosy outlook, either. I decided that the dings could be my reminder to think of 5 things I'm thankful for. I shared this new philosophy and insight on the way to church one Sunday morning, shouting my idea to the kids over the dinging and Troy's yelling at the dinging. I proceeded to list things I was thankful for as the car dinged away.

I continued to be thankful as my car dinged away. On my errand day I had opportunity to be ultra-thankful when I started and stopped the car at least 5 times, giving me no fewer than 25 opportunities to be thankful (and 125 dings in my ear, if you're doing the math). That particular day not much went right, though.

Later in the evening, quite unhappy about getting back out of the house on a rainy cold night, the kids and I piled into the car. As the car began dinging, Riley asked, "Mom, what are you thankful for?" I HAD come up with 25 things earlier in the day -- but I was completely out. I wanted to shout, "NOTHING!!! I am not thankful for one darn thing in this day!!!!" Realizing that wouldn't be a very good example, I simply said, "Riley, I've got nothing."

He began, "I'm thankful for a warm car!!" Bless his sweet little heart. Next ding was Ashley's turn, "I'm thankful I have Expedition 56 (new group at church for 5th and 6th graders." And away we went, thankful for our wonderful, blessed lives, in our blessing of a quirky vehicle reminding us to be thankful.

The dinging car is long gone now. The kids are older now and likely wouldn’t play along with their crazy mother on such a silly task to simply distract ourselves from the fact that our car was falling slap apart. But I’m thankful for the Lord’s provision of a vehicle that worked, and even of a noisy reminder that it didn’t have to work. Sometimes it would be good for alarms to go off periodically to remind me to be grateful for all the things in my life.

“give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Sarah Stirman
McKinney, Texas

Be Thankful!

And the Main Thing is...?

Now is the time of year when I feel such gratitude for the blessings of nature, for my family, and for the abundance of earthly riches God has given me.

But isn’t it interesting that during the very season when I should be overflowing with praise and service to show my gratitude, I seem to have overloaded my schedule with activities and shopping lists, tasks and deadlines. Thus, instead of overflowing with gratitude and praise, I sometimes feel like I’m choking with stress.

Certainly at Thanksgiving, of all times, I know what my priorities should be. Right? It shouldn’t be that hard to keep the main thing the main thing. And the main thing is taking this special time not just to enjoy God’s gifts of Family and an abundant Thanksgiving feast; the main thing is to PRAISE him for family, feast, and all the blessings of life. Do we do that? Does he want us to?
He does.

He ordained certain traditions and ceremonious offerings for his people to show their gratitude for his love and mercy. In Leviticus 7:11-12 he set out rules for a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving, “And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the Lord. If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried.”

We don’t have to perform the sacrifices and ceremonies of the Old Testament today because Jesus fulfilled the law by giving the ultimate sacrifice: His Life. But we are still commanded to be thankful and to express our gratitude to God:
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:15-17)

We also have the Psalms and stories of David to show us just how thankful God wants us to be.
I think the reason God called David “a man after my own heart, who will do all my will” is because of David’s willingness and ability to praise and thank Him constantly. His recognition of who God is and all He does for us is what made David special. He always thanked God with such enthusiasm, as in Psalm 92:1-5
“It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High,
To proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,
To the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp.
For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord;
I sing for joy at the works of your hands.
How great are your works, O Lord,How profound your thoughts!”

And David’s constant state of thankfulness is an example to us: In Psalm 34:1 he says, “His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
And in Psalm 119, “At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgements. . .Seven times a day do I praise thee. . .”
“Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.” (Psalm 107:22)

What would it be like to have King David at the Thanksgiving table? I’ve been thinking about that since I’ve been writing this, and I’m looking at Thanksgiving in a new way. I hope he doesn’t mind eating in the breakfast room, since that’s where our big table is. Where should I seat him? Maybe between my sons. Or next to my granddaughters, but, no, one would be left out. I think we’ll give him Mike’s place at the head of the table. And we will definitely ask him to say the Blessing. And I’ll serve hors d’eouvres before dinner so we won’t be so hungry, because I know David’s thanksgiving prayer will not be a short one. And I wonder if he likes dressing or mashed potatoes. Better have both. I hope my yeast rolls rise this year; Oh wait! Maybe I should serve some unleavened fried cakes mingled with oil? And I’ll make real whipped cream instead of offering Cool Whip for the pumpkin pie. . . .
What was I saying about the main thing? I want to be more like David: constant and uninhibited in my thankfulness to God.

“I will praise God’s name in song
And glorify him with Thanksgiving.” (Psalm 69:30)

”Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving,
and make a joyful noise unto him with praise.” (Psalm 95:2)

Beloved Father, keep me during this upcoming busy season from getting caught up in schedules and to-do lists. I am so thankful for all that you have blessed me with. I see you in the changing world around me. Give me peace and calm, and may I be a blessing to my family and friends, always remembering what is important, and what is not. Through Jesus, thank you. Amen

Lynn Anne Hughes
Stephenville, Texas