Well, here it is - November 4th. The temperature outside is a chilly 34 degrees. The garden has been put to bed and gray November skies have set in. The pumpkins and the ground were covered with frost this morning and most of the trees have lost their coverings. My pansies are in mourning and still have not lifted their heads, despite the sun putting in a good showing today.
Halloween is over and for that alone, I am thankful. The Halloween and fall decorations have been taken down in the stores and now all that means Christmas in the retail world has been set out. Christmas carols are being played in the stores already. The Hallmark channel has started their annual Christmas Movie Marathon. And, truth be known, I enjoy those "sappy" movies, but I'm left wondering - what about November? What about Thanksgiving? I am very excited to celebrate Christmas. I love everything about the holiday, but still I think - wait a minute - we need to celebrate Thanksgiving first!
Why has this holiday been "shoved aside"? Is it just because of commercialism or is there something deeper here? Thanksgiving - giving thanks - have we lost the ability to do that in the culture we live in? Giving thanks requires a humble heart - a heart that can see and acknowledge that something or someone other than our own hands provided what we needed. In a country where everything Christian is under assault and where we "do it my way", have we lost the ability to say thanks? Are we not able to acknowledge a God from "whom ALL blessings flow?" Are we not able to recognize that to Him alone belongs the thanks and praise for all the blessings we enjoy? Thanksgiving day seems to be just a quick stop for turkey and football, instead of an acknowledgement that God our Savior has blessed us abundantly.
"Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Ephesians 5:20
I, for one, will not take down my Thanksgiving decorations until after Thanksgiving (although I must confess I have watched some Christmas movies!). I will keep them up as a reminder that I am not in control of my life, that there is one who is greater, there is one who is infinitely loving and gracious, one who blesses me beyond measure and for that, I am thankful, so thankful. I will keep them up to remind me daily (because, yes, I do forget) to give thanks to my God who so abundantly provides, not just material things, but all things that my soul needs to prosper.
"O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: fior his mercy endureth for ever."
The alarm rings. I roll over and shut it off. It's early. Still dark out. I'm supposed to get up to go to the gym. I tuck deeper into the bed. The warmth of the covers feels good and I don't want to get up, but I do.
Victory #1
I make the bed, trying hard to keep my eyes open. I shuffle to the bathroom and within 10 minutes, I'm grabbing my keys and heading out the door.
Victory #2
I open up the door to the indoor track and see a man running for all he's worth. Ugh!! I start walking and start praying.
Victory #3
My goal is to walk/run a mile in 15 minutes. It takes 8 laps to walk a mile and I plan to do 3 miles, so I count 24 laps, 3 of which I will run. The first 4 laps go by fast and then as I finish the 5th, I know I need to start running. This is the hard part for me. I'm working up to it. I continue on, all alone on the track now. I start thinking about the scripture in 1 Corinthians where Paul says, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection:" The NIV translation says "I beat my body and make it my slave..." I feel like that is what I'm doing - beating my body into submission. It does not want to be here; it does not want to run, but my spirit is stronger and overcomes. I encourage myself and speak to my body - "You can do this, you can do this, one foot in front of the other." I run and make it around without too much of a problem. Only 18 more laps to go!!
Victory #4
I begin to think of the war between the flesh and the spirit. It is an on-going war, for sure, and one I don't always win. Sometimes, I don't even try to fight; it seems easier to give in.
I wonder about the day ahead and how many victories will I win.
I'm finally finished; made it and also achieved my goal - 3 miles in 45 minutes!!
Victory #5
Breathing hard, I do my cool down exercises, gather my things and head home. As I pull out of the parking lot, there are a few cars ahead of me. The light ahead is green, but the first car is poking along, finally turns through the green light, but the second car is even slower, so by the time I finally get there, the light has turned to yellow and I have to stop. Knowing that this light is a long one, I'm exasperated and mad at those drivers because they didn't go faster so I could get through.
Loss #1
There ya go, I say to myself. After all those victories, here's your first loss. And I wonder how many I am going to chalk up this day. All of a sudden, walking/running around the track seems a whole lot easier than dealing with the attitudes of my heart.
Lord, change my heart.
I wonder -
When the temptation comes to be annoyed, will I choose patience?
When the temptation comes to get angry, will I be gracious?
When the temptation comes to judge, will I be merciful?
"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering (patience), gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (self-control): against such there is no law."
Galatians 5:22
Will I react in the flesh or respond in the spirit today? Will the fruit of the Spirit be evident in my life today? Will I choose to walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit which gives life?
At home, I shower, have breakfast and begin working on this blog, feeling the Lord leading me to share the struggle of the flesh vs the spirit today. I hear a "ping" from my phone and expecting an important email, I check to see if that's it. It's not, it's an email from a friend asking me to pray for her today -
"pls pray for me I have a cple interesting mtgs today at work :) thanks, may His spirit take over and not the flesh.. :)"
Wow, I chuckle - God, you are amazing. You are always at work.
This IS an age old struggle we all deal with and we all, seeking Him, desire to be victorious in this battle. This is a war we will fight until we go home to be with the Lord. Will I do it my way or will I choose God's way? When you take it apart in your mind, the choice is obvious, but when we walk in the reality of the battle, the choice is sometimes very hard.
Paul expresses our dilemma so well -
"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"
And then he gives us the answer -
"I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Only in Him is it possible to overcome. Only as I surrender my will to His, can I be victorious!
How many choices will I face today and in how many will I be victorious? What will my count be at the end of the day? I wonder.......
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
"Be careful for nothing; but in EVERY THING by prayer and supplication WITH THANKSGIVING, let your requests be made known unto God."
Philippians 4:6 (caps mine)
A little over a year ago, God placed a book in my hands that has changed my life, but the journey had actually begun more than eight years before that. In January of 2004, my husband had emergency surgery and was on a ventilator for several days after the surgery. The first thing he said to me the day they took the ventilator out, was how thankful he was for the life God had given him, how thankful he was for me, our marriage and our two children. He went on and on about how blessed he felt! While he was sick, whether he was in the hospital or at home, the challenges we faced were many. One night as we were getting ready to pray, he said he felt we should begin our prayer time by telling God what we were thankful for. That was a habit we would carry out until he died. Shortly after he died, I was in bed one night having my devotional time. As I was writing in my journal, I happened to glance up at the wall to a picture hanging there. The picture was of a church located on St. Simon's Island in Georgia. My husband and I had vacationed on that island twice and I fell in love with it. It is one of my favorite places on earth. As I was looking at the picture, I lamented that I would probably never visit that island again. The Lord spoke quickly to my spirit and said, "Don't lament over what will never be, but give thanks for what was and is." That was the beginning of my journey of thanksgiving. I began to thank God for the 33+ years of marriage I had, for the great husband I had, for the fact that we were able to visit that island twice and then many more offerings of thanksgiving came forth. Over the years since then, I have endeavored to cultivate a thankful heart.
About 2 years ago, our pastor preached on a grateful heart and challenged us to begin a journal listing at the end of each day five things we were thankful for. I began to do that and continued it for about 6 months. At that point in time, I realized that I was doing it by rote and not from the heart, so I stopped. Shortly after, I found this book - "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. What a gift this book has been! It has expressed everything that I felt God was doing in my heart regarding thanksgiving.
Ann talks about living eucharisteo thanksgiving. The kind of thanksgiving that challenges you to live in the moment, to recognize God in the moment, to give thanks in ALL things believing that God has given ALL things. It's learning to abide in Christ through every moment of every day and give thanks! Scripture says, ".....in His presence there's fullness of joy." (Psalm 16) How do we enter into his presence? With thanksgiving in our heart. "I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart. I will enter His courts with praise." (Psalm 100) Cultivating a thankful heart produces such joy, genuine joy, the fullness of joy that Scripture talks about!
Ann also shares in the book the challenge that she was given by a friend to count "one thousand gifts" that God gives her on a daily basis. Her book was born out of this challenge and she shares what God did in her heart as a result of meeting this challenge. I started my own count last year but have been doing it more regularly the last few months and this fall we have been going through the Bible Study video series Ann offers based on this book.
I can't begin to tell you the difference this has made in my life. Finding God in every moment has definitely been a challenge, but it has opened my eyes to so much that I've been missing in life. It has brought a fullness to my life and joy to my heart. Recognizing the gift of God's love extended to me in all things as I go about my daily life - even, oh, especially, in the mundane and rote activities of daily life. Suddenly, they don't seem so mundane at all! And He is found in ALL things when you are looking!
Today is my husband's birthday; he would have been 66. While I think his years on earth were much too short, I know God's plan is perfect and I accept that. I celebrate his life today, giving thanks to God that in this life, I was loved by Phil. I rejoice in the blessings God gave me in the years I had with Phil and I rejoice in the many blessings He is giviing me today and those he has yet to give me. Part of Phil's legacy to me is, I believe, the legacy of thankfulness; the gift that was born out of his death. I rise to the challenge of finding those 1000+ gifts in the days ahead!!
"Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shall thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." Matthew 7:5
It was Easter Sunday and I had spent the day with my family. My Dad had gone to my brother's house for dinner, so I waited to go see him until later in the day when I knew he would be back in his room at the nursing home. He was not doing well when I saw him. He was exhausted from the day and his left hand seemed to be swollen and he was favoring it. I was concerned about him and spoke to the nurses, then had a very unpleasant phone conversation with my brother. By the time I left, I was quite distracted and upset. As I drove home, I found myself behind a very slow out-of-state car, going about 30 mph in a 40 mph zone. Adding to my distraction regarding my Dad, I was now feeling frustrated and very impatient that he was going so slow. I began tailing him, hoping he'd get the message to drive a little faster. All of a sudden, I saw the flashing blue light behind me. Knowing I wasn't speeding, I pulled over, expecting the police car to drive by me. The slower car in front of me also pulled over. Alas, the police car pulled up right behind me.
The officer came over to my car and in a very angry voice asked me if I knew the person in the car in front of me. I told him no and he motioned for the other driver to go ahead. The officer wanted to know if I had a good reason to be following him so close and proceeded to holler at me about following another car too close and all the dangers associated with that and of course, asked for my license and registration. Feeling properly chastised, I turned them over. A few minutes later, he came back to the car, returned my IDs and warned me again about following another car too closely. He indicated he would not give me a ticket and cautioned me to heed his warning.
As I pulled away, I felt some humiliation, but then began to get angry. "Seriously," I said to the dead air in the car. "You have cars running red lights constantly, people going through stop signs, people speeding and you stop me for following a car too close??!!!!" Immediately, this Scripture came to mind:
"Then Peter, turning about seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following: which also leaned on his breast at supper...... Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? you follow me."
John 21:20, 21
"You - follow me! Never mind what others do. I will deal with them. You - follow me!" These were the words I heard the Lord say and they brought immediate shame and repentance to my heart. I had been properly chastised by my Father and I knew I had grieved His heart. As I continued to reflect on this, I thanked the Lord for His chastisement. I thanked Him for His discipline because it represented His love for me. He loved me too much to let me continue on in my own sinful way. Not only were my actions wrong, but my heart attitude was dismal.
"My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Hebrews 12:5b, 6, 7, 11
I once heard someone say - God loves you just as you are, but He loves you too much to let you stay that way. I am so thankful for that. I am thankful that He loves me enough to correct me when I need correction, that He loves me enough that He's not concerned about my hurt feelings, that He loves me enough to walk me through the hard times of chastening. And I'm thankful for His forgiveness.
My heart rejoiced that day, even though it was a real moment of humiliation and shame at the awful attitudes that were still there alive in my heart. I give an account to Him of my actions only. I can't change anyone else's actions, but I can choose to be obedient to Him and change mine according to His Word.
And just for the record, I definitely do keep a safe distance from the car in front of me on the road these days!!
"A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance....."
Proverbs 15:13
"Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad."
Proverbs 12:25
My late husband, Phil, had a very merry heart and could see the humor in almost all of life's situations. He made me laugh...a lot. I have always been a very serious person and he would always say to me - "You need to lighten up, Donna, lighten up." He was so right. He brought a lot of fun to our family and taught me not to take myself or life too seriously.
Laughter is so good for the soul. Because we are made to see humor in life and because we enjoy laughter, I believe it's also in God's character to do the same because we are made in His image. He has a terrific sense of humor. Just look at all of His creations (not humans - but animals, fish, even some plants). Life, even at it's best, is hard. To find things to laugh about each day helps to lighten the load.
A former pastor of mine used to always say, "If you're happy, let your face know."
I felt impressed by the Lord to write this blog today. Those of you who know me, know that isn't always the way my mind bends. But as I was out walking the other day, I took some pictures that brought big smiles to my face and I even thought of captions to put under each one. So today, I just want to make you smile and maybe even laugh.
Lighten up, smile, it's good for your soul!
"A little help here. I'm stuck!"
"Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!"
"Raptured? Seriously?!? Nobody told me!"
I have no words for this one!
"Harpo, have you seen my cigar?"
"I'm not coming down unless you promise me full amnesty!"
I think I just heard some of you groan! Really, that's all you got? Hey, we have to take it where we can find it!! I challenge you to find some humor in your day today. You might have to look hard depending on how your day is going, but look anyway. Remember, it takes less energy to smile than it does to frown, so if you're tired, that might be why!!! :)
Hope you enjoy this video and song. I really have not lost my mind!! Just enjoying the medicine of a merry heart!!
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you; except you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches.
He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit;
for without me you can do nothing."
John 15:5, 6
Abide - the dictionary defines it as - "to remain; stay; to dwell." Remain in me; stay in me; dwell in me......except we remain, stay, dwell in Him, we can bear no fruit. Hmmmmm...... So, then, how do we abide, remain, stay, dwell in Him?
In my quest to be more aware of the Lord's presence in my life every moment of every day, I am discovering that in having my eyes open to receive every thing in that day as a gift from Him, I begin to sense His presence in all things. To open my eyes to His presence and recognize Him in the small things of my day - the blue of the sky, the smell of chicken soup simmering on the stove, the green light, the sun breaking through to make shadows on a cloudy day, manna from His Word, the wind blowing in my hair, clean dishes in the sink, I am dwelling in Him. Sound crazy??
Recognizing His gifts in EVERYTHING is seeing His hand extended to me in love; it's recognizing Him in every moment of my day. Those things that delight my heart? The sound of crunching leaves, the taste of peanut butter on hot toast, a flower peeking out of a pile of dead leaves, a face on a tree - these things that delight my heart? These are gifts from Him, wooing me into a love relationship with Him. As I recognize these as the gifts they are, my heart fills with thankfulness and joy ---- joy in the fact that He is speaking to me personally with those things that He knows delight my heart.
When that joy (a fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22) overflows in my heart, it can't help but affect all aspects of my life and overflow into my relationships with others. Joy comes from seeing Him in all things, thanking Him for all things and receiving this day and all it holds for me as a gift. This, then, is abiding, staying with Him in the moment, each moment of my day.
Am I always successful at this? No, I am not. But I am practicing. I am practicing slowing down, looking for Him, living in the moment, seeing the Giver behind all the gifts and beholding His heart's desire for me. I desire to be fruitful in my life, producing fruit that will remain and the Word tells me I can only do that if I abide in Him.
Fruit even in the midst of decay and rotting leaves. Lots of fruit, good fruit, quenching fruit!! Lord, abide in me that I may abide in you - daily, moment by moment. Create in me an awareness of you in ALL things! May my joy be full!!
"These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you,
and that your joy might be full."
John 15:11
"...in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore."
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6
I thought of this scripture yesterday. I woke up feeling very far from a "good work". The attitudes of my heart have needed quite a bit of work lately. I was thinking I'm certainly not very confident of my ability to change my heart or to be able to do anything about my attitudes. I've felt very impatient with myself and everyone around me lately and truthfully, I despair when I think about what's needed in my heart to affect change. Sometimes I feel like such a fraud as a Christian. I wholeheartedly thank God that no one can see the ugliness of my heart, but then I remember - He can!! When I remember that, it's hard for me to believe that He still loves me in spite of all that ugliness. But then I read that Scripture again, and remind myself that "He which hath begun a good work....will perform it", not me, and I am encouraged again. The Scripture tells us that David encouraged himself in the Lord, and I find I have to do that continually. My heart IS deceitful above all else and I can't trust it, but I can trust the one who sees my heart and I can trust that He will work in me to change it.
I thank God for His Word that also tells me:
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." I Thessalonians 5:23-24
Boy, I want to put an exclamation point at the end of that!! I am so thankful that He is faithful - faithful to even my failing heart. Faithful to pour out His grace when I reach out for it, instead of choosing to stay in my pit of despair. I look up and give thanks to "Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." (Ephesians 3:20)
Be encouraged in Him today; be encouraged by His Word that is truly "manna" to your soul!
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