Just so we get off on the right track here, I'm all for Thanksgiving Day. I've traveled to other lands and have a better idea than most of just how much every American has to be thankful for. A lot of citizens of the United States of America take this great country for granted. A good many people enjoy every benefit this country offers, then turn right around and ridicule and publicly advocate against the U.S. for giving everyone the same right(s) they use to speak out against our country. Go figure!
My point to be made today sort of goes along with, yet is separate from, the issue(s) I mentioned in the first part of this post. Just like on Sunday mornings, people all across this country of ours will sit down today [it's already Thanksgiving Day in some parts of the country!] and give thanks to our LORD GOD for the bounty before them. Most people will thank HIM for this great country we live in, and make mention that there are a lot of other countries in which people don't have the [legal] right to offer thanks to GOD, or to live freely. This Thanksgiving Day I'm confident that quite a few prayers will be offered up for the Ministers of the Gospel in China and Iran who were told the only way they could avoid execution for the crime of being a Christian was to recant. I agree with everybody doing every single thing I've mentioned here, and that leads right up to my point of today's ramblings. Before I get going and forget, there's something I haven't mentioned in quite a while that I need to get out in the open here.... Yeah, I'm a Believer!
Is this day the only day of the year, excepting every Sunday, that should be a day of thanks for those of us who claim the Blood of CHRIST as atonement for sins? Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm as guilty as anybody, so don't think for a minute that I'm putting myself up on some kind of pedestal. I'll tell you what my excuse that doesn't work anymore used to be [funny how that works when GOD gets involved, isn't it?] Something along the lines of, "Just because I don't say 'Thanks' everyday doesn't mean that I'm not thankful." Or, "It's in my heart, and GOD knows what's in our hearts, right?" I could go on and on with the excuses, but I think you probably know where I'm going with this, don't you? Yes, the FATHER knows what's in our hearts, and yes, HE knows when we're thankful even if we don't come right out and say it. The thing to remember here though is that HE didn't just 'think' about sending HIS Son to die on the cross. HIS Son didn't have it in His heart to obey the FATHER's will just on that life changing [did I say 'changing' or 'giving?'] day on that hill overlooking Jerusalem, now did HE? When we get ourselves into some kind of a bind, GOD doesn't just think about giving us a hand our of our trouble and forgiving us for whatever bone-headed stunt we've pulled this time only on a certain day of the week or year, now does HE? Neither is HE only available for us to come to on Sundays and the last Thursday of every November. When we do come to HIM, whenever that is and for whatever reason, HE's always there, any time of the day or night, every single day of the year.
The more I think about it, the sillier it seems. It's like you have a perfectly good car in the driveway. But five days out of the week, you walk right by it on you way down the drive when you're setting out on your eight or ten mile walk to work. Then maybe on Saturday you pass it by on your way to the grocery store, I'll bet you really hate your grocery [shopping] day, don't you? When Sunday comes, it's time to save the old shoe leather and fire the old heap up and off to church you go! I know this sounds a little silly, but is it? What has more meaning to you, GOD or your car? Has your car ever not started or had a flat? Especially with the price of gas, does it seem as if you're always pulling into either the gas station or the mechanics shop? How about my wife's pet peeve, having to scrape ice and snow off the windshields? [It doesn't help when I explain that it only happens in the winter.] Now, take a [long] minute and compare that to GOD. HE's always there and HE's always ready. We never get a busy signal or a voice mail. HE never puts us on hold. Never any 'low fuel' or 'check engine' lights. But a good many Christians only have any time for HIM on Sundays and Turkey Day.
Every day is HIS day, or it should be. Every day is a day of thanksgiving, or it should be. I was talking with someone, and I probably shouldn't admit that I can't remember who it was, about marriage and I made the statement that when someone tells me that their marriage is a fifty-fifty deal, with each of them contributing fifty percent to the marriage, then my response is that the marriage is already in trouble. I mean BIG TROUBLE! Now I want you to think about this, if people are willing to contribute fifty percent of themselves to their marriage, but only thirteen days a year, and those days aren't usually the whole twenty-four hour days, to GOD then something is seriously wrong, with both that person's marriage and their relationship with GOD!
My prayers are for you all to have Happy Thanksgivings, and that you have three hundred and sixty-five of them a year!
Faithful in HIS service,
Terry & Faith
Absarokee MT
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