I meant to publish this piece a long time ago and completely forgot... I got caught up in the Nation Novel Writing Month Project and failed to upload this. Please excuse the lateness of this posting. I hope you enjoy it for what its worth...
Thanks....
As we approach the season of Thanksgiving a lot of people take time to take stock of their lives and the things for which they are thankful. Some take to list the outgrowth of this process in daily affirmations. Some take to listing one thing each day. Some take time to express a general feeling of thanks. And some while thankful do not express this publicly.
Others look at all of this and call it a fraud. They see this season as a sham that allows people to feel good about themselves for a brief period while not genuinely embracing the intent of thanksgiving. And there is some merit to this view. If we only list things at this season and it makes nary a ripple the other eleven months of the year, then they are absolutely correct. This needs to be a time that refocuses us around our blessings, graces, and mercies which are new each day. It needs to be a time in which we reconnect with who we are,. what we are about, and what the divine is building or has built in us and about us.
If we do not see this season as the opportunity to be remolded, and reshaped in favor of the agenda of the divine for us, then we have failed. Then we have missed out and tragically ignored a chance to see, feel, and comprehend the work of and plan for our lives as set forth by our creator. Such opportunities should not be ignored or squandered. We are here but for such a short stint.
It might seem like hyperbole to compare the will of God for your life with Thanksgiving, but in all honesty it is not. I have come to understand that key to see the future resides in two crucial visuals. It is critical to understand where you currently are in every sense of the word. All of the typical visuals must collapse from independent views into one… The geographic, the spiritual, the emotional, the physical, the fiscal, the psychological, employment, familial views all must merge together to form the current context.
Once that view is properly coalesced, the view entitled where you came from using all the same values and parameters must be developed. One can pick any timeframe desired for viewing. If you can view where you are now and where you came from in a side by side comparison and not come away counting blessings and being thankful, then you need therapy. One need only grasp those two things to enter into a blissful season of thanksgiving.
As one then moves to consider the future from there and God’s will for one’s life, if done properly you will already be in a place of thanksgiving. Which is for me where every successful discussion with the divine on this subject has begun.
With all of that in mind, allow me to confess. I am not the best at truly embracing this. I have in the past missed it and saw it as a chance for glutinous self-indulgence. And for that I am rightly ashamed. It is my intention this year to do better. As with all intentions though in the heart of man it is a malleable thing. I hope to do better this year than last. Any statements beyond that are arrogant hubris based in the vain over-estimation of the ability of self. And should be viewed accordingly.
Allow my efforts at thanksgiving to begin with this… I know and am convinced in my heart of hearts that I am absolutely one of the most blessed men on the planet. I am married to an amazing woman whom I love more every day, and in whose gentle embrace I look forward to living out such days as are granted to me by my God. In the midst of this most primary of relationships, we have been blessed with two bright, kind, and loving daughters who define what it means to be me most days. I have a family mixed of blood, marriage, and choosing that I would not trade for anything in the world. They are all a vital part of my life, as they keep me sane, honest, and grounded in all respects.
I have been blessed with meaningful employment. I have a job that covers the bills, and more besides. A job that meets the needs of the familial emplacement, and allows for planning for the future, hobbies, and to quote Robert De Niro ‘enthusiasms’. More than all of that, it is good consistent work that I am happy to do, and enjoy doing. And even more besides, I am a part of a team that I find to be one of the best if not the best on which I have ever worked. I have a manager that I respect greatly and in whom I am able to place my trust. (Rarely has this ever been true before.)
I am a part of a fellowship of believers that I find to be real and genuine and authentic. I find that even though it is a large fellowship, I am as rooted in it today at just over one thousand as I was one it was less than three hundred. It is a distinctly different type of fellowship than the one I was fetched up in. And for that I am at least somewhat grateful. I found in adulthood that I do not fit in any longer with the expression of faith that I first found Jesus in. There is nothing distinctly wrong with it, it just no longer fits me is all. In this regard, I am obedient to the place God planted me and will remain there until he opts to move me elsewhere.
There is much more I am thankful for that this, but this is a good point of beginning on this subject. Let me close by saying… If you are unhappy, if you are depressed, if you in a foul mood, take a moment or two to consider where you are, and how you came to be where you currently are. In the course of that, if blessings, mercies, and graces do not abound to give thanks for, then you need professional help.
Thanks....
As we approach the season of Thanksgiving a lot of people take time to take stock of their lives and the things for which they are thankful. Some take to list the outgrowth of this process in daily affirmations. Some take to listing one thing each day. Some take time to express a general feeling of thanks. And some while thankful do not express this publicly.
Others look at all of this and call it a fraud. They see this season as a sham that allows people to feel good about themselves for a brief period while not genuinely embracing the intent of thanksgiving. And there is some merit to this view. If we only list things at this season and it makes nary a ripple the other eleven months of the year, then they are absolutely correct. This needs to be a time that refocuses us around our blessings, graces, and mercies which are new each day. It needs to be a time in which we reconnect with who we are,. what we are about, and what the divine is building or has built in us and about us.
If we do not see this season as the opportunity to be remolded, and reshaped in favor of the agenda of the divine for us, then we have failed. Then we have missed out and tragically ignored a chance to see, feel, and comprehend the work of and plan for our lives as set forth by our creator. Such opportunities should not be ignored or squandered. We are here but for such a short stint.
It might seem like hyperbole to compare the will of God for your life with Thanksgiving, but in all honesty it is not. I have come to understand that key to see the future resides in two crucial visuals. It is critical to understand where you currently are in every sense of the word. All of the typical visuals must collapse from independent views into one… The geographic, the spiritual, the emotional, the physical, the fiscal, the psychological, employment, familial views all must merge together to form the current context.
Once that view is properly coalesced, the view entitled where you came from using all the same values and parameters must be developed. One can pick any timeframe desired for viewing. If you can view where you are now and where you came from in a side by side comparison and not come away counting blessings and being thankful, then you need therapy. One need only grasp those two things to enter into a blissful season of thanksgiving.
As one then moves to consider the future from there and God’s will for one’s life, if done properly you will already be in a place of thanksgiving. Which is for me where every successful discussion with the divine on this subject has begun.
With all of that in mind, allow me to confess. I am not the best at truly embracing this. I have in the past missed it and saw it as a chance for glutinous self-indulgence. And for that I am rightly ashamed. It is my intention this year to do better. As with all intentions though in the heart of man it is a malleable thing. I hope to do better this year than last. Any statements beyond that are arrogant hubris based in the vain over-estimation of the ability of self. And should be viewed accordingly.
Allow my efforts at thanksgiving to begin with this… I know and am convinced in my heart of hearts that I am absolutely one of the most blessed men on the planet. I am married to an amazing woman whom I love more every day, and in whose gentle embrace I look forward to living out such days as are granted to me by my God. In the midst of this most primary of relationships, we have been blessed with two bright, kind, and loving daughters who define what it means to be me most days. I have a family mixed of blood, marriage, and choosing that I would not trade for anything in the world. They are all a vital part of my life, as they keep me sane, honest, and grounded in all respects.
I have been blessed with meaningful employment. I have a job that covers the bills, and more besides. A job that meets the needs of the familial emplacement, and allows for planning for the future, hobbies, and to quote Robert De Niro ‘enthusiasms’. More than all of that, it is good consistent work that I am happy to do, and enjoy doing. And even more besides, I am a part of a team that I find to be one of the best if not the best on which I have ever worked. I have a manager that I respect greatly and in whom I am able to place my trust. (Rarely has this ever been true before.)
I am a part of a fellowship of believers that I find to be real and genuine and authentic. I find that even though it is a large fellowship, I am as rooted in it today at just over one thousand as I was one it was less than three hundred. It is a distinctly different type of fellowship than the one I was fetched up in. And for that I am at least somewhat grateful. I found in adulthood that I do not fit in any longer with the expression of faith that I first found Jesus in. There is nothing distinctly wrong with it, it just no longer fits me is all. In this regard, I am obedient to the place God planted me and will remain there until he opts to move me elsewhere.
There is much more I am thankful for that this, but this is a good point of beginning on this subject. Let me close by saying… If you are unhappy, if you are depressed, if you in a foul mood, take a moment or two to consider where you are, and how you came to be where you currently are. In the course of that, if blessings, mercies, and graces do not abound to give thanks for, then you need professional help.
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