April 10, 2014, Thursday, 1135 a.m.
The day
before yesterday (Day 2), and yesterday (day 3), made me wonder the answer to
this question. How is it possible to really, truly, deeply, with meaning,
always give thanks in this world of yuck and mess? How can we/I always give
thanks—even in the hard times? How can we/I always give thanks—even when we,
frankly, don’t want to? How can we/I do this when we/I simply don’t have the
energy?
The truth
is, I think this all stems to one main question:
How can we/I
always give thanks? Period. It’s really that simple. It doesn’t matter what the
fill in the blank is. It’s really that simple. How do you always give thanks?
1. You need
to know to whom you give thanks. As a Christian, I give thanks to God. He is
Creator. For those who are not Christian, they may say the universe. Well, how
was the universe created? If it was just chance, then go a print shop and wait
for one of the copy machines or printing presses to print off a copy of any
book you can think of. If randomness is true, stand there long enough, it
should happen.
So, this
proves chaos or randomness isn’t true.
So, the
universe had a Creator. This is whom we give thanks.
Another
answer people might say is, “I give thanks to self.” Well, if you are so
important, that means you are all-powerful and all-knowing, then tell me the
name I wanted to name my child if they were born. (This is something that no
one can look up and less than a handful of people know. I have a name for both
genders and secondary options in case they are twins.) Also, tell me where I
was on July the Forth in 1989. Again, there is no way for you look up this
information. So, if you know it all and are that powerful, then you should be
able to tell me.
So you see
how futile those thoughts are? They’re folly.
Is there
anyone or anything more important than the Creator? This is whom you should
give thanks to all day, every day.
2 Thanks is
something we can do anytime, anywhere, even as we do things. Hence, this is how
we can always give thanks. It makes us wonderful multi-taskers.
3 When we
don’t know what to give thanks for, look around you. Do you see that coffee
mug? The spook? The sofa? The tree? Each one of those items should bring up
several thoughts and several memories. Pick a few. There. You just gave thanks.
4 You write
down all the things you are thankful for so that on a tough day, you can go
through your list and it will bring comfort.
5 Philippians
4:5-7 / Expanded Bible (EXB)
5 Let everyone see that you are gentle [kind;
considerate; patient]. The Lord is·coming soon [or close at hand; L near]. 6 Do
not ·worry [be anxious] about anything, but pray and ask God for
everything you need [or make
your requests known to God], always giving thanks. 7 And God’s
peace, which ·is so great we cannot understand it[transcends/surpasses all
comprehension], will ·keep [guard] your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus.
-- EXB:
Scripture taken from The Expanded Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Thomas Nelson,
Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
6 Be
intentional.
I will keep
numbers one through six that I just listed and will do my best to live them
each moment of each day, but I know me. I will fail—more often than not for a
while. But, I hope with each passing day, this will get easier.
I tried to
do this in November and December of 2013, but I stopped—after I fell on my face
and skidded for a few feet (not literally). I blew it. I got sidetracked. I got
busy. My two biggest obstacles.
Therefore, I
need to acknowledge these obstacles and figure out a way to avoid their
allurement. Just as I am not lured away from my husband, and haven’t been at
all in thirteen years or so, I can do this with always giving thanks.
The
bottom-line is this: I just need to do it. Again it’s really that simple.
Lord, help
me to learn how to give You thanks, and count my blessings, for and in all
things (see 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and Philippians 4:6). Teach me to be
intentional about this in each moment, even as life happens. All I want to do
is bring You glory and live the life You created for me and had planned for me.
Use me, Lord. Fill my heart, mind, and mouth with thanksgiving and the counting
of my blessings—in each moment, all day long. Help me to see You are work in
me, through me, and all around me. To You be the glory forever and ever, Lord.
Always
giving thanks, the more we do it, the more we start to move from thanking God
for me, myself, and I and from a me-centered point-of-view to a more eternal
oriented point-of-view. In other words, we learn how to see more of the eternal
and less of the worldly.
The trick
is, we need to give more and more thanks. The more thanks we give, the more we
will shift to this eternal state of mind. We will then move from short-term to
eternal thinking, which then will change our actions and the way we feel. Then,
the eternal focus is what we center our lives around. Our dreams. Our goals.
All of it.
I’M SO EXCITED I CAN BARELY STAND IT: WAITING TO
RECEIVE A NEW STUDY BIBLE
A couple of
days ago, I decided again I want a real paper Bible to hold in my hands. I want
to commit in a whole new way to daily Bible reading, praying the Word, and
meditating on the Word of God.
I’m the type
that loves to underline voice and write short little notes in the margins, like
when I read something or when I hear a sermon on something, so it gives me
enough of a note I can track the information about it in my journaling.
Again, four
months ago or so, I tried to get two new Bibles, each of which, I love. But,
they are not the ones I want to carry with me everywhere and use for years,
each day. I consult them on a frequent basis, but they are more of the study
variety, not the worship, read through, ponder, pray through variety—in my
heart. They are still important to me, but they just aren’t the daily Bibles I
desire.
And,
honestly. They just aren’t pretty enough.
I know. That
sounds ridiculous. Preposterous even. What a stupid excuse. But, I will be
honest here. Pretty usually doesn’t matter with me. Blue and grey are my
favorite colors. Look around my house and you’ll see feminine touches, but
nothing that’s really girlie (except maybe a shirt or two that I like to wear).
Also, the pink colors of my blog are usually not like me. I rarely wear makeup (except
lip gloss) or dresses. Style my hair—what?!
So, you see,
pretty usually isn’t all that important to me. There may be times when a weird mood
strange me (like the pinks of my blog right now), but it’s usually not something
which lasts. However, if I am going to commit myself to a daily reading Bible
that I can underline and write notes in from cover to cover and keep for years,
it had better be pretty in order to keep up my interest. I better like what I
see or I will get bored with it.
I’m not talking
on the outside. I usually get a cute Bible cover so I can carry it around with
me in my bag and not get messed up or damaged. I’m talking about the inside
pages. The inside pages need to be pleasing to my eye.
Now, try to
find a purdy Bible (as I call it. There is a major difference between purdy and
pretty. Pretty is very girlie. Purdy is less so, mind you.). Finding a purdy
Bible is challenging enough. Then, try to find it in your favorite translation.
(Good luck!) I go back and forth as to what my favorite translation is, but I’ve
made it down to these: AMP, EXB, GW, HCSB, NASB, NCV, NKJV, NLT, and TM. So,
that helps make it a little borader of a field as to finding the perfect purdy
bible for me, right?
No. I needed
to figure out what version I could stand to be married to, so to speak, for
several years. So, it needed to be purdy and the right translation. But, what
was the right translation? Of those nine, I narrowed it down to the HCSB because
of two reasons:
1 I like
their Study bible. I own the e-book version of it. You can find it here, if you
are looking for a new Bible and don’t want a purdy one:
2 It was the
purdiest one I could find.
Again, this
is absolutely silly, I realize. But, it will make the difference as to whether
I stick with it or not. I have to give myself every advantage I can to help
increase my rate of success.
The Study
Bible for Women, HCSB, I’m getting is:
See pretty.
Look at the sample pages and see what I mean, if you want.
The Bible
cover is:
See. Not too
girlie. Just subtle girlie. But, check out the colors.
Now, why on
earth do I share all of this with you?
I’m waiting
to receive it from the carrier. The suspense is killing me. It’s driving me crazy!
I can’t wait.
But, there’s
a problem. I have plans this evening—and through Sunday afternoon. So, it I don’t
get it soon, I won’t be able to enjoy it and get it set up and ready for me. Pout.
There’s another
reason why I want it. If I can’t figure out what to thank God for, and what
blessings to count, I will open the bible to where I last read and start
reading that page and find a verse that grabs my attention and I will do a
mini-Bible study on it and I will count it, and what I then learn, as a
blessing and will give thanks to god. As a matter of fact, I want to do this
with my Bible reading each day. My goal is to find five verses that do this for
me each day. I will keep reading until I count five. I will, as I said, do a
min-Bible study, prayer journal about them, and add them to my blessings list.
I have a
feeling I may get two or three days of reading one in order to find those five
verses some days. But, I bet other times, there will be five verses in the row,
depending. I can’t wait to find out. You’ll see this in this blog and year of
always giving thanks. I want to be thankful for every Word from God. Each and
every.
