Aaaah, the “holidays” are upon us again. Perhaps the purest and most serious of all holidays is THANKSGIVING. You know, the reason for all of us being here (and I do mean all) is about survival of the forefathers. Wherefore they gave thanks collectively. Therefore it’s about soberly remembering who and what we are; how and why we’re here; then, on to deciding the discernment of and the importance of things in this life because we must live it! Some things I write here may not come across to you as having a clear understanding or awareness of our heritage compared to our present situation, but perhaps the Spirit of the Lord will help us see things we need to see on this holiday in order to better serve Him.
Of course, not everyone will think about serving the Lord while serving ourselves to turkey & dressing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, then a pecan, custard and pumpkin, maybe blueberry pies, and —-does it seem to you the desserts are a longer list than the real food? Uh, I was just trying to get across my preferences, I guess. But the thankfulness seems to begin with the food (as we learned in the loose history depictions of both school and churches of our past…the pilgrims and the native Americans ate together? Well, so they say.)
But, to the more serious thoughts: Phi.4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord alway…” Have you thought recently about the difficulty in being able to do this? ,,”alway?” “alway?” Without the s on the end of this word, it has a more continual implication—like saying “through whatever, no matter how long or how bad things are.”—Rejoice!. That can be a tall order. So, we must remember all the words of the verse, most importantly the “in the Lord” part. The Lord knows the kind of world we live in, He is not asking us to look at what goes on around us or the sicknesses we go through and just be giddy and delirious all the time. But, when we think about Christ, our Redeemer, Christ our Savior, Christ who will come for us at His appointed time! Thinking on Him should make us rejoice, no matter what else is going on in our lives, or even to those we love.
Paul wrote in Gal.6:14 “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…” Glorying in the cross is easy to be entreated down deep in our hearts because we believe what He did, what He does, and in what He will do. Amen? What about unto those who do not believe (or trust) in what Christ did, do not know what He does, and therefore are not waiting in anticipation for what He is going to do? In what do they glory? In what do they rejoice? I suspect practically all who read this has close family members somewhere on the chart of belief/unbelief; some who totally do not believe, and some who can’t get it all taken in or settle it “down deep,” as the Lord said. Now, back to our rejoicing where those loved ones are what do we seem like? Know-it-alls? Do we seem self-righteous to them? Does it seem to you they cringe a little when you talk to them?
In the midst of our rejoicing in Christ, we must take note of what we sound like, yea, even what we look like to them. Why you might ask? Because our job is to be an ambassador for Christ. Take a moment to re-read 2 Cor.5:14-21KJB before reading any further.
For several years our family, while sitting around the Thanksgiving table have spoken candidly of the things we’ve been blessed with in the year thus far. Each of us can say whatever “blessing” we’re remembering has been special, or most endearing, or most important. Sometimes it’s new, sometimes it’s an old wound cured, or a new friend, a new place to live, even a new possession or new job. Whatever comes across as a blessing we heretofore didn’t have. We’ve had some years where this took only a few minutes, we’ve had years where one thing or another lead to long table conversations. But, (and I say this hopefully) always it is to our betterment that we all hear each other. It builds the family camaraderie. Even that is a blessing from the Lord—He invented families.
What this discussion here on these short pages is about is this: remember it is a Thanksgiving Day, not an evangelical call, nor a guilt trip on anyone’s thankfulness about anything. Think of yourself (in the Ambassadorship position) as a guest who would never insult or cause to belittle any person present but see them all as the host or hostess and yourself as a guest—even if you are in your own home! Sound radical? It isn’t at all. It’s just practicing the call to be what the Lord wants us to use for our rejoicing!
More on the holidays coming soon.
Thanks for reading, the Elder
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