Thursday, November 27, 2008

Verse of the day

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

--Colossians 3:14-17

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm sitting on my comfortable couch, watching the Cowboys pummel the Seahawks (24-6 at the beginning of the second half), my stomach full of food. Last night, we had dinner with some long-time family friends and some of their friends and relatives. Life is good.

Having a crazy economy, people are losing jobs, credit is hard to come by, and all the news seems to be bad, so how can life be good? Because it is. We live in a country that values freedom. We live in a country with a history of rebounding. We know that no matter how bleak things look, at some point, things will get back to normal and even get better.

We have a lot to be thankful for.

With all of the bad economic news that has bombarded us for the last several months, when I went to the grocery store this week (several times) I couldn't get in. Al of the parking spaces were taken. That must be a good sign.

I've been to third world countries where folks don't have grocery stores or easy access to things like electricity, clean water, heat, or air conditioning. If you want something to eat, you better have planted something correctly some time ago so that you could eat it today.

We have a lot to be thankful for.

I've been places where the government watches every movement you take, and where roads are full of thugs and gangs that will kill you for no reason.

We have a lot to be thankful for.

I hope and I pray that at some point today you reflected on all that you have to be thankful for. Maybe it's not your retirement plan. Maybe it's not your job. Maybe it's not the amount of money you have available to spend for Christmas gifts this year. We have a lot to be thankful for.

May you all have a very happy Thanksgiving, and may we take more time each day, not just on the fourth Thursday of each November, to stop, reflect, and think about all the people and things for which we should be thankful.