Thankfulness

Be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.-Ephesians 5:18-21


Thankfulness is a state of heart.    True thankfulness makes us want to act the way way this scripture suggests.  True thankfulness makes us want to sing.  It makes music spring from our hearts.  I think poets and musicians and other artists must all be basically thankful people, because thankfulness creates a desire within us to in some way capture those things for which we are thankful.


Over the last couple of decades I think people have generally become less thankful.  We have traded our sense of gratitude for a sense of expectation and entitlement.  It has even seeped into our churches.  People visit churches looking for what they have to offer... big youth programs, thriving ministries for the older folks, plenty of social opportunities.  It was beginning to become a problem for the average-size church to compete.  And "compete" is such an unfortunate word to use when we are talking about churches.


But I think the bad economic situation in the country is actually doing a lot of good.  People are beginning to learn to be grateful again.  They are re-learning the joy of doing things for themselves and for others.  Hopefully we will see this new attitude reflected in our churches soon... people who would rather teach Sunday school than just drop their kids off for someone else.  People who would rather serve in a ministry rather than just throw money at it.


Somewhere along the way we have come to believe that we deserve everything we have.  It's time to practice thankfulness again.  We can start be realizing that all those things we have that we think we deserve can be lost in the blink of an eye... our jobs, our homes, our loved ones, even the beauty around us.  


We are coming upon the season of giving thanks.  Many of our churches are focusing on stewardship, harvest season is coming to an end and our national day of Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  What a good time to make a list of everything you are thankful for!


Father,
Give us hearts that are so truly thankful that we want to sing and make music.  You provide it all, Lord.  Thank you.  Amen.


Joys:  All the pictures of the northern lights that have been seen around the country; picture-perfect weather; looking forward to a mountain hike today