Happy Thanksgiving to each of you and all your families. Following is the series I posted this past week on gratitude which is so closely woven in among every thing we are thankful for. Entering into the final stretch of 2016, may we all focus on the positive. May we all focus on seeking the truth. May we all focus on peace. May we all focus on love. Jesus came, lived what He spoke, giving us the perfect example of what living in this really messy world looks like {and it is really messy right now}. This is where He shows up big time – when the mess is overwhelming. It’s time to roll up our sleeves and do something right where we are standing that will cause someone to proclaim gratitude. Focus on others gratitude – it will change your life.
Change is inevitable. We can try in all desperation to hold on to what we have created yet change is still going to happen. Like sand slipping through our fingers, ice melting in our hand or wanting the warm sun to shine eternally, life is going to be different tomorrow than it is today. Learning to accept that is a result of becoming comfortable with it. Make friends with it. Even when change doesn’t play nice and we would do anything to erase it from our lives. Only when I turned to Jesus and began living a redeemed life, a life focused on eternity, did my desperate need to control my life become one of peacefully existing with change. Jesus takes all the messy life that comes when we think we are in control and doing our best to keep it all controlled. Trusting Him when I can’t trust anyone else or anything is when I will find the peace. Following are a few of many scriptures I find comfort in. Read them. Dig in the bible. Make your own list. Share in the comments below what verse speaks clearly to your heart these days.
John 16:21-22, Isaiah 55:6 and Ecclesiastes 3:1
“Let peace rule. Called to peace.” Peace doesn’t just happen. It requires choices on our part and those choices require action. We have to desire peace. It has to be an action of letting go of wrongs easily held onto. Peace moves into places deep inside of us where the parts of us have long been brooding over wrongs from our past. We all have lists. But we are called to peace. We are called to LET go of our death grip on those lists and let peace rule. Take ourselves out of the picture and hear the call to action. Give THANKS!
By this point in my life I have learned the sweet part of giving thanks. When I bring the action into my heart something incredible happens. My heart softens. The lists fade. The anger loses its grip. The hopelessness loses its less-ness, becoming hope. Feeling helpless loses its “less”. Things change in me. When change happens IN me, what comes OUT of me looks different. Today I am thankful for the ability to “do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Happy Thanksgiving 2016 everyone!
We all get up every morning and decide what to wear for the day. We also get to choose what will guide our decisions, how we will respond to the days events and how they will impact our behavior.
Choosing the appropriate response to situations we encounter is much like dressing for the appropriate weather. We check the weather forecast the night before and pretty much know how to dress. Being prepared contributes to our success.
It’s the same with life. How we choose to respond to any given situation reflects how we have prepared in advance to react before we venture out into the world. These scriptures in Colossians guide us in our preparations.
I love the wisdom and the truth found here.
Read this scripture and examining the place in my/your life we feel we could focus on to become better prepared. I’m always amazed where my focus lands – and grateful too. Life continues to teach me and the scripture never fails – never disappoints.
