November 23, 2013
“As we express our
gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter
words, but to live by them.” -- John F Kennedy
This weekend we mark
the 50th anniversary of an event that shook American notions of
stability and prominence. The assassination
of an American President. And just like
that fateful day, we are less than a week from a very American Holiday,
Thanksgiving. I wonder as I see and hear
unrest on so many newscasts over this political opinion or that, “Have we come
very far in this country?” Dialogue
seems to be drowned out by demagoguery on both sides, and there seems to be
little interest in actually seeking for solutions to difference of
viewpoints. I don’t share these thoughts
because of a sense that all is lost, but rather because I know that it isn’t. Just as 50 years ago families and communities
found renewed reason to be thankful for the good things in life as they were
reminded of its fragile nature; we have good reason to identify and give thanks
for that which is good in our lives…
and that can be a catalyst for real renewal and change in our lives,
communities, and nation.
When we begin to have
thankful hearts we can realize that just like a magnet tied to a string and dragged
through a yard begins to attract metallic objects that we might not notice with
the naked eye, our hearts begin to find in every hour, some “new” blessing that
we may have missed before. From this
surprising “wealth” of blessing then, we can find a reason to give into others’
needs from a place of abundance that we never knew we had. And in the end, it isn’t what we say about
our blessings that matters, but how we use them that becomes the measure of our
thankfulness. An ungrateful heart never
feels that it has as much as it deserves… a grateful heart can’t contain the
joy it feels in the knowledge that it has more than it will ever need.
Galatians 6: 8-9 says,
“If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if
you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is
right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.” Sow seeds of gratitude, and God’s word says
you’ll reap an eternal harvest. Now,
what are you going to do with the yield?
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