11.30.19 - week 31
on the discipline of thanks.
we tend to elevate thankfulness through guilt.
the typical trope is to try and get you to feel a twinge of fault over your thanklessness. the simplest preacher path is to make your frustrations seem foolish and small, while drawing your attention to the most important stuff, faith + family + basic needs. YOU ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT YOUR JOB WHILE PEOPLE IN ASIAN SLUMS ARE DYING OF STARVATION????
another classic path is to ask you be grateful for your pain in real time. because joseph was able to sit on the (literal) throne of god’s deliverance two decades later and call his unspeakable hurt ‘good’ and because paul calls us to give thanks in all circumstances, the lazy (and typically emotionally constipated overly reformed) pastor wants you to be glad for the things you aren’t glad about. and we wonder why skeptics sometimes say religion asks us to check our brains at the door.
i’m advocating another trail to the thankful altar this year. what if your thankfulness could be entirely rooted in expectation? because he’s done it before (salvation/forgiveness/provision/miracles etc), then i know he will do it again. i just need to keep going until the blessing comes. i’m pre-emptively thankful for what i believe is certainly ahead.
by keeping going, you are showing future thanks. by believing now you are paying a down payment on a future blessing. not giving up is a wonderful form of thankfulness.
for now we live, if you are standing fast in the lord. - 1 thessalonians 3:8
KG Korner
(a few wise words from lady kristen macdonald)
November is typically a month of great reflection for me and this year was no different! With Thanksgiving alongside Luke and Reid's birthday there's many memories that flood through my mind. I have always loved celebrating Thanksgiving first and then the rush that black Friday shopping brings. Luke started a tradition a few years back that when I would leave go out shopping for black friday he would get my christmas decor boxes out so I could start the decorating immediately after the shopping... one of my favorite days of the year!
For the last five years all of November, I had thankful cards that we would daily fill out stick on our pantry door. This year I didn't get the cards out at the beginning of the month and I didn't have a printer to make more and to be honest the warmer weather and new home threw me off. But thankfulness has still been on my mind. We have often had the conversation at our dinner table this month talking about the many things we are thankful for and I love when we get passed the 'basic' ones and move on to the things that so easily get missed because we don't even think of them.
And as I searched my own heart I came to the conclusion that I needed to write notes to people that I am truly grateful for... some who have been around for a while and others that I didn't know last Thanksgiving. I find it so refreshing that someone can be on my list of thankfulness that I wouldn't be on theirs – there’s a joy in speaking life into them knowing I might not have made it through if it hadn't been their support.
I know it sounds cheesy and super Christian-y to write this but I am most thankful for the Lord this year. He has been everything He has said He is and more to me. As I read psalm 93, this morning I remember reading these verses in some of my darkest days earlier this year and saying yes Lord, yes!
"If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would have lived in the land of silence. When I thought, "My foot slips, Your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up." If it wasn't for Him holding my hand, helping me no matter what and the reminder of His steadfast love no matter what....
He is a good, good Father that I am thankful for this year.
Book Review
this book is unique. ray dalio has written something akin to a secular modern day bio of solomon/book of proverbs. as builder of the largest hedge fund on the planet, he has clearly systematized his way of thinking. unlike most business bios, where winning is reduced to grind + grit, dalio serves the reader by dwelling on failure as much as success, always moving to the question of ‘why.’ highly recommended.
Podcasts This Week
the listenership is slowly but surely growing. would love for you to rate/review to help us along.
1. no 405 podcast this week … back next week after the holiday
2. part 3 of my series through the book of 1 thessalonians, this might have been my favorite one in the whole series, really think you will be blessed to list or watch on youtube
Things I Liked This Week
1. john mark comer gives some helpful thoughts on avoiding the over-hurry of the holiday season…
2. for i think obvious reasons, i love families and legacy of ministry. martin smith (deliriou5?) and his daughter doing a duet of one of his best songs, lord you have my heart.
3. this little clip from a sermon i did a few weeks ago continues to stick in my mind .. just because something ‘seems’ something, doesn’t mean it is anything.