A Reason to Give Thanks

The Thanksgiving season (as opposed to the day) doesn’t get near enough emphasis. Its roots lie back in the early history of settlers coming to this continent. Presidents thought it an important enough idea to designate a special day for it each year. Frankly, it’s just good to stop and figure out what we have for which we ought to give thanks. Since a couple of weeks ago I wrote on taking time to stop, breathe, and remember what all these holidays are about, this week I am stopping long enough to record a list of what is so important in my life that it deserves gratitude.

Being a follower of Jesus Christ, without apology I give my gratitude first and foremost to my heavenly Father.

 “Every good gift and every perfect present comes from heaven; it comes down from God, the Creator of the heavenly lights, who does not change or cause darkness by turning...” (James 1:17)

That will always begin my list of blessings. Before I can move into the mortal realm, there has to be the primacy of God the Son who freely chose to take the punishment for my personal rebellion against the plans of the Father. There is the gift of God the Spirit who dwells within my mind and enables me to strive to live in accordance with the plans God has for me.

The blessings of this life begin with relationships. My wife and two sons and now a daughter-in-law take my thoughts away from a self-centered focus and direct them toward individuals who have shown me it is truly more blessed to give than to receive.

I am thankful for the home that now no longer exists created by my parents who loved God and loved their two sons; who sacrificed much to give those two sons a hope for a future that would include greater opportunities than their own had contained.

In the mornings when I walk I sometimes use the moments to point out to God all the good things in my life instead of asking for more:

A body that is still strong enough and pain free so that I can walk; eyes to behold the beauty of the stars; ears to hear the haunting sound of the great horned owl and early rising mockingbird; hands and fingers that can feel the cold begin to seep through the gloves.

Gloves to keep my fingers and hands warm; multiple layers of clothes that make the early morning walk bearable; shoes that can keep out the cold from the frozen ground.

A house with a roof that does not leak and windows and doors that keep out rain, snow and wind; a warm bed from which to rise and a full refrigerator to which to return; photographs to remind of what has been and calendars and schedules to remind me, for the moment at least, I have an earthly future.

A car that runs well enough to take me to a job that pays well enough to cover the bills; a driveway in a grassy yard presently covered with leaves of many hues; stone walls bordering flower and herb beds that hold memories of past beauty and promises of future glory.

Friends and extended family scattered across the states; and a waiting spiritual home that will know no end.

Col 3:15  The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful.

Col 3:16  Christ's message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts.

Col 3:17  Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father.

I am blessed. I have many reasons to be thankful throughout the year. May you be filled with gratitude in the knowledge God will meet your every need.

I Want to Give the Best

I believe it was a greeting card company who had as a part of their advertising efforts the slogan, “When you want to give the very best…”. They believed they had the best. They wanted you to believe they had the best. If you did, then you should feel obligated to buy their product. It was just good merchandising.

The concept of giving the very best brings different thoughts to all of us. A lot of it revolves around the motivation. Who deserves the best and why? What will it mean to us to give someone the best? Is it the best in our eyes or in the eyes of someone else?

There are times I want to give the best, my best. A few times I give only what is required by someone else. In each instance I am making a value judgment about what the person deserves and what I consider the good, better, best, or none of the above. That is what the person gets from me though I admit that is not always the best attitude to have.

We give Christmas presents the same way. The wall hanging made by fingers twisted by arthritis and needing five months to complete represents a “best” that money cannot buy. The crayon picture designed by a four-year-old and splattered with spilled chocolate milk is a priceless piece of art. Even the gift card for the local coffee shop says, “I thought of you. I know what you like best when it’s time to unwind. I hope this helps.”

This is a season of remembering, celebrating, and giving thanks. Our western society has added a heavy dose of giving material objects. Even if we do allow our involvement in the season to be measured by the amount of material gifts we give, we still make those value judgments. Who will receive a gift from us? How much will it cost in dollars, effort, or both? How personal will it be? How much of our own unique personhood will the gift represent?

When God decided to give the very best, he gave Himself (Matthew 1:18-23). The season of Thanksgiving was originally directed solely toward God. His providence had made survival possible whether for the journey or through the winter. The season of Christmas should be just as much a season of thanksgiving. There would be no hope of salvation at Calvary without the miraculous birth at Bethlehem.

God gave us his best. What are we offering him during this season of celebration and thanksgiving? God gave his best. He deserves our best in return. Will that cost be measured in dollars, in time, or in some other form of personal sacrifice?

We often make a list of gifts we want to give to others at Christmas. Perhaps it is based upon what we want to give others. Maybe it is based upon what we know they would want. God wants what we are willing to give. He wants us to be willing to give what he desires most.

What does God desire most from you? What will you do to make sure God gets what he wants from you this Christmas?

Here is a short list of what I see God wanting from me:

My love

My attention

A malleable heart

A sensitive spirit

A generous attitude

A bold vision

A courageous stand

An eager desire to grow in Christlikeness

A total submission to the Lordship of the Holy Spirit

He knows what the cost will be for me to give him the gifts he wants. He becomes all and I become nothing. He claims everything and I claim nothing. He receives all glory and I receive nothing. He exercises all power and I exercise nothing.

This Christmas God wants all things from me so he may give me all things. When I have given him everything and I am empty, then he can fill me with the greatest gifts of all, his divine love and eternal presence (Ephesians 1:13-14; I John 3:24)). They were given in Bethlehem. He still gives them today.

Stop, Feel, Be Thankful!

The first Christmas items went up for sale about one week before Halloween this year. I guess you have to forgive the craft store for the early date as they were trying to give people a chance to have homemade gifts ready before December 25, even earlier if things had to be mailed. Regardless, the displays served as a warning that the mad rush was about to begin. Get your calendars out, your notepads in hand, and your credit cards ready. The season for saving the American economy has arrived.

Before we get to December 25^th, however, we come to November 22, the date in 2012 set aside for Thanksgiving Day, Turkey Day, or Eat-Too-Much-And-Fall-Asleep-On-the-Couch-Watching-Football-or-It’s-a-Wonderful-Life Day. From the Puritan point of view this day was never to have a religious foundation, the result of a rejection of too many Catholic holidays that required church attendance. Thus in America from its earliest days this special day was kept separate from Sabbath identification. Don’t you just love Wikipedia?

That same source relates that various groups and colonies had their own days of thanksgiving on a variety of dates and for a variety of reasons. George Washington in 1789 called for the first national Day of Thanksgiving. The independent celebrations continued for another 75 years until Abraham Lincoln established the last Thursday in November as a national holiday. For some unknown reason Franklin Roosevelt felt it necessary to change the date to the fourth Thursday of that month. So we have the familiar date that all of America recognizes today.

I will celebrate it by spending the day with my wife, two sons and daughter-in-law. I will also have the blessing of spending that same time with my son’s in-laws whom I find most enjoyable. It will be a day of strengthening family ties, enjoying the bounty of a year’s hard work, and taking the time to stop the mad rush into the Christmas season, feel the blessings flow around me, and give thanks to the One who has made it all possible. I join a nice crowd in doing that (Psalms 92, 107, 136, etc & Jesus-Mark 8:6; a Samaritan-Luke 17:16; Paul-Ephesians 5:20, etc)

Somewhere there is a computer that can do more than thirty trillion calculations in less than a billionth of a second or some ridiculous number like that (actually it’s name is Sequoia and it lives at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California where its speed is in the quadrillions of calculations per second-Fox News). I can only assume that someone needs a computer that fast.

As for me I have found you can get a lot of serious reading done while waiting for your computer to pull up a large file or work through a search. Sometimes it is not a waste of time to be quiet and feel your heart beat over a period of five or ten seconds. It can be a reassurance that you are still connected to life. Upon occasion you need to stop, feel life, and whisper a word of thanksgiving.

On Thanksgiving Day I intend to sit a lot, eat a lot, smile a lot, and try to remember to offer thanks a lot. I will thank my God for a wife who has put up with me for over 35 years. I will thank God for two sons who will run into my arms even when my hands are empty. I will thank God for a beautiful girl who dared to become a member of the Lamkin family. I will thank God for extended family, friends, and opportunities in a free country, still the greatest place on earth to live. I will stop, feel, and thank God for the greatest gift of all, his Son Jesus Christ, who taught me how to love without caring what someone deserves. Because I didn’t deserve his.