Well, this week starts the madness. It seems like once Thanksgiving week
begins…life gets just a little crazy until the end of the year. Of course if you go by what you see in area
stores, Thanksgiving has been completely forgotten and Christmas decorations
have been out since September.
I think that it is so important for us to be intentional in
making sure we don’t just rush through Thanksgiving to get to Christmas. I happen to believe that if we take time to
really count our blessings now, we just might have a different perspective on
Christmas. When we realize what is
really important in life and contemplate on how much we have been blessed, I’m
guessing that it will be easier to focus on the birth of our Savior.
I’m not naïve enough though, to think that everyone finds it
easy to recognize his or her blessings.
There may be some of you who have had so much pain in your past, so much
heartache, that this week only reminds you of what you don’t have instead of
what you do have. Your spouse may have
decided that he or she didn’t want to be married anymore. You may have lost a loved one, which left a
hole in your heart that words just can’t describe. Your child may have chosen a path that is against
everything you believe in and the pain you feel has left you drained. Your job, which you thought would always be
secure, was taken out from under you and it has left you wondering how the
bills will get paid. And in an instant,
your health began to fail and it is all you can do to face another day.
You don’t need me to tell you that our plans are often thrown
out the window and our journey takes a sharp detour that makes no sense. Unfortunately, life happens and we can’t
always control what is going on around us.
So what do we do when the pain from our past keeps us from
moving forward and being able to count our blessings? I saw a quote this past week from C.S. Lewis
and I loved the analogy, “Getting over a
painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to
move forward.” There comes a time
and a place where we just have to let go of those things that have entrapped
us. Until we loosen our grip, we will
just be left hanging and there will be no way for us to dwell on what we DO
have instead of what we DON’T have.
If you find yourself struggling today as you begin your week,
I’d like to make a suggestion. Find time
today to write down at least 2 things you are thankful for and then tomorrow
and Wednesday do the same thing. By the
time Thursday rolls around, you will begin your day of thanksgiving with at
least six blessings to focus on as you go throughout your day. When your past begins to overshadow you
again, take out this list and read it out loud.
Read it over and over until it is ingrained in your mind.
If even this assignment seems to be more than you can
handle…take time to write down what you DON’T have. Let me give you some examples of what I mean,
by sharing some of the things that I don’t have:
I don’t have cancer
I don’t have a broken marriage
I don’t have to worry that I won’t have anything to eat at my
next meal
I don’t have to live
on the street in the cold in a cardboard box….
Understand what I mean?
Sometimes when we start listing what we DON’T have…we can begin to
realize the blessings that we DO have.
I think you will find that with each blessing you write down or
with each “don’t” that you record, your grip on the past will start to
loosen. With each entry, you will begin
to find it easier to move to the next “rung” and you will start making forward
progress. Your past will no longer have
such a tight hold on you.
I would be amiss today
if I didn’t let you know that one of my largest blessings is YOU. YOU have blessed me over and over again by
your encouragement and support of my ministry and without YOU, my life wouldn’t
be as full and rich as it is. So today I
want to make sure and thank YOU for taking the time to read my posts each week,
for your words and notes of encouragement, for sharing my writing with your
friends and for your acceptance of me even if you don’t agree with everything
that I share. I have been truly blessed
and I’m thanking the Lord today for YOU!
“Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.”
Philippians
1:3
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