Thankfulness

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. Psalm 95:1,2

A couple of you sent me emails asking why I hadn’t posted as much recently.  I could say I’ve been very busy, and that is true.  But it’s also an excuse.  The reality is that I just don’t post everything I write. About half of what I write, I share. I don’t share everything for good reason.  Not everything that comes to my mind needs to be shared.  For instance I wrote a reflection Monday morning that I did not share. Why? Because: 1: It was deeply personal and 2: it was deeply angry.

There have been a few circumstances in my life lately that have been less than optimal.  This is not unusual.  I know I’m a pastor, but I’m also a deeply flawed human being like anyone else. Just because I have this weird call in my life (that’s how I describe being a pastor) doesn’t mean that I’m not subject to the ups and downs of everyday life.  I generally have a good attitude, but sometimes I can get down like any other human being.  And so it was on Monday.

Yesterday when Bible Gateway sent this snippet of Psalm 95 to me and I read, “let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song,” my first reaction was, “I don’t want to.”

Fortunately my second reaction was, “Slow down, breathe – notice all the good that is in your life, and give thanks to God for it.” 

As I go into another season of Thanksgiving, I am intentionally looking at all the many, many blessings I have in my life.  Susie who puts up with me, family, friends, a core of deeply committed followers of Christ that I have the absolute privilege to work with.  As a pastor, I am gifted with the single greatest message that the world needs to know, and I get the honor to share it with people! The reality is that I have so much to be thankful for, I could, and maybe I should, spend the rest of the day listing it all.

Thank you Jesus!

So, as you go into your Thanksgiving holiday.  Are you thankful?  Truly?  “Slow down, breathe – notice all the good that is in your life, and give thanks to God for it.” 

Let me leave you with something my Greek professor in seminary shared this morning:

"It's a wonderful and worthy thing to go into your 'prayer closet' and thank God in private for all of his blessings. Yet, there is something grand about sharing your thanks to God in the presence of others." – Mark Roberts

Live this day in thankfulness!