Thanks-Living

My Thanksgiving was really nice this year. My son came home from his internship at The Honor Academy and brought a half dozen young men home with him, so our house was a really fun mess. On top of that, I was hosting a missionary Pastor from Rwanda, East Africa and he still finds it hard to believe human beings can eat this much. My brother and sisters all made an appearance and I actually spanked all of them in our family’s annual Texas Hold‘em competition. Yes, the Brewer is a bible thumping, column writing, conference speaking, world traveling, guitar playing, card dealing shark. As Davy Crocket once said, “I’m a screamer”.

So here it is after Thanksgiving and the parade is over. You have survived the ball game and the spandex wearing mayhem at Walmart. Black Friday has come and gone and hopefully without a black eye -but don’t you dare let go of being thankful.

This week’s sip from the Master’s cup comes served with leftovers from our last holiday. For you and I, Thanksgiving is not just a day on the calendar but an actual lifestyle we get better and better at. The good book says in Colossians 2:7 that we are to “abound in thanksgiving”. It means we are supposed to overflow with thankfulness and actually upgrade in being thankful people.

That same pesky book which Paul wrote concerning those nasty gnostics, also says in chapter four, we as Christians should be devoted or sold out in commitment to, three different things. The first is prayer because God wants us with him more than anything else. The second is “being watchful” which means paying attention to spiritual things because we are all residents of heaven living in Texas. Finally the third thing we are supposed to be devoted to is indeed thanksgiving. Dedicated, devoted, purposely intentional about being more thankful today than we were yesterday. If you are thankful, it means you love your life.

People who are not devoted to being thankful tend to be committed to being critical. They live life identifying with the bitter beer face commercials and generally are very comfortable being unhappy. If that is you, let me say on behalf of everyone within your general proximity, you’re no fun to be around! Thankfulness doesn’t just come from good things happening to you. Thankfulness is something you practice. It is a skill which must be developed. It’s an intentional position of your heart and something we can all get better at.

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: Ps 91:1

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