Thanksgiving....So, That's What This Is All About

I was out running a few errands a few days ago and had to run by the grocery store. Now, I don't know if you've ever experienced a grocery store a few days before Thanksgiving but let me see, what was the word I used to describe it? Oh yeah, "INSANE!" Wall to wall people with shopping carts fighting for space in the aisles and stretching, reaching, and grabbing for stuff. A complete mad-house if you will. This particular store had a couple of people with microphones wooing people to try some particular food item. Personally, I think it was just adding to the confusion. It took me several minutes just to navigate through the crowded produce section. And, of course, after I made it through, I realized I had forgotten something on my list so I had to fight my way back through. And that was just the beginning.

I noticed, as I made my way through the store, the looks on most of the faces I past. Not alot of holiday cheer I must say. I'm sure had I looked in the mirror, I would have seen the same kind of expression staring back at me. I was not having fun. Ok, that's a little understatement. Let's just say I could think of several places I would rather be.

As we head full throttle into the holiday season, I can't help but think with all the "stuff" we have to do, we have become so good at missing the point of it all. Think about it. I'm in the middle of a crowded store where people are purchasing their food for their Thanksgiving celebration and I can't help but think how many were missing the spirit of the holiday. I know I was for one. I remember standing there thinking, "Please, get me out of this store!" Yes, I admit it, Thanksgiving was the furthest thing from my mind. The noise, the crowd, the craziness of it all did a great job of helping me lose sight of why I was there in the first place.

I was there because of Thanksgiving. I was there because I needed to pick up some last minute things for our Thanksgiving meal. A meal that I'll share with family and friends. A meal that I'll eat in a free country. A meal that I can afford to prepare. A meal on a day that we set aside to give thanks to God for all that He has blessed us with. I'm not sure about you, but my life is good. Its extremely good. God's blessings overwhelm me constantly. I have so much to be thankful for. We all do. Even if we are surrounded by negative things right here and right now, we all have so much to be thankful for.

Our problem is that we are very good at focussing on all that is wrong rather than all that is right. I'm thinking God knew that when He inspired Paul to write, "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things." The truth is that whatever we focus on orchestrates our life. If we choose to focus on the inconveniences, the negatives, and all our problems, we will journey through life, depressed, upset, cranky, stressed, and critical. On the other hand if we can learn to focus on all the goodness that God has blessed us with, then all the negatives pale in comparison.

One of my closest friends is bringing his mother home from the hospital today. She suffered a massive heart attack almost two weeks ago. The doctor informed the family this week that 1/2 percent, yes .5 percent of those who have that kind of heart attack live. Not only did she live, but she is alive and kicking. Also, today a couple we know is bringing home a young daughter from Ethiopia that they have just adopted. Its been a long, drawn out process, but today that journey is complete and their family of 4 just became 5. Stories like that are going on all around us and it really helps to put things into perspective. I know that not all stories have happy endings. Let me rephrase that. I know that there are some events in our lives that aren't happy ones. The happy endings are the result of what we do when those difficult times hit us. The key is in that moment, in the middle of that event, we can still choose to set our minds on the goodness of God rather than our current circumstance. Yes, we can choose to look at all that is wrong, but there is so much more good surrounding each one of us. And, if we can make a practice out of focussing on that good, it will re-order our life.

God is good! He is always good. His goodness surrounds each and every one of us. Regardless of what is going on right now in your life, it doesn't change who He is and how He relates to you. True, genuine thankfulness, is birthed in the heart of those who really know that. Over the course of the next few weeks, you'll be challenged to lose sight of the important things in life. You'll be tempted to forget what this season is all about. My challenge to you is, in the middle of it all, to remember who God is and how He's blessed your life. Perhaps, you struggle to find His blessings in your life, but you can start with John 3:16. If that was the only thing we could find that was good in our life, that alone would be worth a lifetime of thankfulness!

Lessons From The Land Of Uz

A few thousand years ago in the land of Uz, there lived a man whose life gives us some pretty powerful lessons. While reading his story this past week, I was hit with a pretty big reality check. The story begins by telling us of this man named Job who seemed to have the perfect life. He had a great family, big house, and lots of stuff. Then we are given access to a conversation between God and satan concerning Job. God brings up Job and actually brags a little bit about him to which satan replies by saying that Job only loves and serves God because his life is so great. Satan tells God that given some calamity in life, Job is certain to view God quite differently.

As I read this, I began to think about myself. I pondered for a moment how often I truly fail this very test. I started to think how quick I am to get a little miffed at God when things don't go my way. When prayers seemingly go unanswered or when I'm not seemingly under a "blessing cloud." Perhaps, you're like me. You find that praising and thanking God for all He's done comes really easy when life is good, but it becomes quite difficult when life stinks.

If we are honest with ourselves we'll admit that in those moments we are doing little more than throwing a fit. Ok, perhaps we don't lay on the floor and kick and scream like we did when we were little, but our heart attitude is not all that different. We want something and we don't get it, so we pout, get an attitude, and want God and the rest of the world to know it. Sounds like a fit to me. Crazy isn't it. The very thing we discipline our kids for, we somehow justify when we ourselves do the same thing.

God is good. He is always good. He can't act outside of good, because that's who and what He is. That being said, bad stuff still hits our lives. We live in a world that is broken. We live in a world at war. A war that is constantly raging between good and evil. Between the forces of darkness and the forces of God. Those who sit around with the idea that they are immune from bad stuff happening to them have a "Disney" outlook on life. It isn't real. Its a fantasy world that is destined to come crashing down one day.

Job's life was great, but calamity and tragedy hit hard. Like Job, it is in those moments that we truly find out about our heart. It's here we find out a lot about ourselves. In those moments, we find out if we are little more than an adult who still has the same heart as a spoiled child, or if we have outgrown the mindset that the world should cater to our every desire. Finding the ability to look beyond the garbage in life and maintain a heart of thanksgiving toward a God, who remains good through it all, shows growth and maturity along our journey. On the other hand getting ticked off at God, angry with everyone else, and mad at the world shows that we have many more mile markers to go on our spiritual journey to maturity.

Count on it, bad stuff will hit your life. Friends will wound you, relatives will upset you, and this world will hammer you. Its how you react when it hits that makes all the difference in the world. Job's life in the end was better than it was in the beginning. I truly believe that is largely a result of how he handled the calamity that hit his life. Just remember in the middle of it all, God still remains God. In the midst of life's hardest struggles, His goodness, grace, mercy, and love can still be found. If you can find nothing else for which to be thankful, those alone are fuel enough to bombard the heavens with your gratitude.