A Season of Thanksgiving and Praise

The Thanksgiving and Christmas season offers so many opportunities to crash and burn! Over Thanksgiving weekend I was in a department store and saw the holiday decorations and I promised myself that this year I would NOT over plan. I promised myself that I would build in time to enjoy the season. Almost immediately things began to pop up that want to take a bigger bite out of my time than I thought they would. Many are good things. More work is good. Visiting with friends is good. Leading a New Year's Eve worship time is good. But I am resolved to be like Mary and choose the "better part," not just the good part.



So I am building in "holiday enjoyment" time this year. Some of that will be just plain fun. Some of it will be spending more time with God, reflecting on His message for me this season. I'm not going to feel guilty about what I'm NOT doing so that I can do these things because I believe that doing these things will honor God MORE than being harried and hassled all season. That's what choosing the better part means.


Resist Stress

One of the things I'm doing is actively resisting stress (is that in and of itself stress-creating? it can be if you're not careful) and practicing enjoying the season. But I don't always get it right. Last week one day I said to Phil "I'm really stressed about meeting this deadline." His response was priceless (if not original). He said "And how's that working for you?" In other words, "is being stressed about meeting the deadline helping in any way?" Of course, the answer was "no." So I took a deep breath and asked God to help me release the outcome to Him as I did my best to meet the deadline. I'm working on "apprehending" or "taking hold of" the grace that God has for me each day (but that's a blog for another day).


Stop Grumbling

Our pastor has helped, as he's preached 2 messages on being grateful and not grumbling. I need to be reminded of that from time to time and I appreciated the messages. When I'm overly busy or tired, it's easy to fall into the trap of complaining. And once fallen in, it can be hard to snap out of it. Something inside of me actually enjoys grumbling! Isn't that horrible? But I bet you're like that too. I've found that most people are. Yet when we can get out of the trap, life is SO much more enjoyable. And of course we are much more a reflection of God's grace and peace to the world.
Say "Thank You" to God...In Writing

Here's one activity I recommend. Find a time (or make a time) to sit down and actually write a Thank You letter to God. I find that writing it down makes me think more and makes the whole process more "real" or "true" than just praying silently or aloud. I was amazed at how quickly I was able to create a Thank You letter to God that was 2 typed pages. I was also amazed at how far-reaching it was. I thanked Him for things that I don't routinely thank Him for (because quite frankly my thank You's are often quick and a prelude to what's next -- Ouch!). What that really means is that I was thankful for things I don't usually reflect on. And what that means is that I am more thankful after writing the letter than I was before writing it because I am more aware of the things I have to be thankful for.


Try it...you'll like it...and you'll glorify God more.

Grace, The Double-Powered Prayer; Peace, Restored to Oneness

A small group of us are studying the book of Philippians. Last night we did chapter 1. So much good stuff, I had to blog a little about it. Today I'll share briefly about Paul's greeting. Tomorrow (or at least some day soon), I'll share about "abounding in love."

Paul's greeting in the letter is twofold — a salutation and a blessing. The blessing is "grace and peace to you." Pretty simple. But we looked at the words.

Grace — The word for grace is "charis" which means not just the unmerited favor we receive from God, but also it's "reflection in [our] life" according to Strong's Greek Dictionary. I don't often think of that when I think of grace. When I pray "grace," I'm not just praying for God's favor to be shown to someone (or myself), I'm also praying for the reflection of that grace — the outward expression of it in our lives. That's pretty cool! It's like the prayer is doing double-duty or has double power. I'm not sure why, but this has me pretty jazzed.

Peace — Not the absence of conflict, but a restoration to oneness, quietness and rest. That sounds a whole lot more like a spiritual thing to me than a relational thing. My spirit so often needs to be restored to oneness with God, to experience quietness and rest in the midst of a crazy world. I'm reminded of the spiritual formation "exercises" or practices that I've largely allowed to fall by the wayside.

Paul blessed the Philippians with grace and peace at a time when they were experiencing persecution — being falsely accused, arrested and thrown in prison. He was saying "may your soul be at rest with the Father and your life be a reflection of His grace in your life." Wow! all that in just 3 words — "grace and peace."

Grace and peace, friends.

Resting

Psalm 139: 3a You chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest.

Scripture is so full of "resting" and we so often miss it. We pray about and assure ourselves that God will lead and guide us, and of course He does. But our prayers are always leading and guiding us to action.

Scripture also teaches us that he leads and guides us to rest. I wonder how often we miss that lead? And I wonder what the price is?

In the Old Testament, the Hebrews were taken into the Babylonian captivity for 70 years. God didn’t just make up that timeframe — 2 Chronicles 36:20-21 explains to us that during the captivity "the land finally enjoyed it’s Sabbath rest, lying desolate for seventy years, just as as the prophet had said."

I’m convinced that practicing a Sabbath is a discipline that honors God and from which we gain immeasurable benefits, but that’s the subject for another blog. For today, I am just surprised at Psalm 139. God tells us where to stop and rest.

Lord, let me hear you when you tell me to stop and rest.