Thursday, May 30, 2013
Openly Thankful
There have been times in my life when getting from yesterday, to today, to tomorrow was really quite challenging. Sometimes it was the stress of keeping up with everything in life. Often the issue was just making a living. At other times in life, there have been these great times when my life just seemed really good. Maybe even great! Interestingly enough, some of these times also were filled with many things to do every day. Many of these times were also during times when making a living was not going so well. It made me wonder what was the difference.
All of this lead me to look up many scriptures around words like thankfulness, thankful, thanks, thanksgiving, etc. What I came to realize is that these words were different, but connected. Thanks or thanksgiving is something we give. It is done with the hands extended repeatedly (thanks) or for a duration (thanksgiving). Thankfulness is a state of being that is active. These are alike in that way. It also seemed that they were often accompanied by people speaking or singing positive things to and about God.
So back to the beginning of this writing, why were the things in my life not connected to how my life seemed to me? Well, what I do remember about those times that stood out as good is that I felt the best about the most important thing in life – me and God. Even in the times of stress and lack when things seemed good, those were times when I found myself focusing on God, and the end result would be thanking Him for who He is. I would get to that place of joy and thanksgiving by taking action.
I guess what I am saying is we can have the sense of life being good no matter what is happening in life, if we just take the time to show actively and to say and sing our thanks. And when we do, it is contagious and others soon join us. Gotta run, time to lift my hands from the keys and my voice to the heavens.
Prayer
Father, Thank You for all You are doing every day in our lives, no matter what we see. We choose to be thankful and raise our hands and voices to You. We choose to be a thankful people. We choose to love You and trust You that You are delivering and healing us, and bringing us into rest and peace. We love You. In Jesus name. Amen.