TGIF

This week I have given much more thought to what to be thankful for this year, mainly because of the strange and difficult circumstances we have all encountered.  The two messages that keep popping into my head this week as I think about all I have to be thankful for this year are  – (1) to focus on the now rather than on the to be, and (2) to be thankful for all the blessings God has provided rather than to be sad for all I have missed out on this year.

 

I have always been a planner, trying to prepare for what lies ahead.  When I was younger in the prime of my career, I planned for how to pay off our home mortgage, how to plan for retirement, how to best raise our children, I always seemed to be thinking ahead preparing for the to be in Cindy’s and my future.  As I look back on 2020 to date, I see that any planning this year was in vain. 

 

This summer, Cindy and I celebrated our 50^th wedding anniversary.  So last year, I thought it would be a great way to celebrate our anniversary by taking a number of trips, since we both love to travel so much.  So I planned a 2-week vacation to Italy this past summer for us with some dear friends, a trip to Texas for a family wedding, and a trip to Colorado to visit dear family that we have done so many other summers and was such a special place for us to visit.  Yet, all those trips got cancelled this year due to coronavirus and guess what – we survived nicely!!  We still found other ways to visit the loved ones who we planned to travel with, and the travel itself was never really missed.  All that planning turned out to be fruitless, yet the relationships with the people involved have remained strong.  The one planned trip we did get to take was to our favorite family vacation spot on Hilton Head Island, and it was the week of our anniversary.  We got to spend it with the families of both our children.  The takeaway is that the location was wonderful but the true blessing was being with those we loved the most for the entire week of our 50^th wedding anniversary!  The memories of that week together will never be forgotten!

 

James 4:13-16 – Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” ¹⁴ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” ¹⁶ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

 

We always need to remember that God is in charge, and only He knows what our future holds.

 

Ecclesiastes 8:7 – If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen?

 

God has appointed a time for everything but man knows neither the time nor the outcome.  This uncertainty can increase our misery if we do not place our trust in Him.

 

As I look back on this year, I am so grateful for all the time Cindy and I have had with our 2 children and their families, especially our 4 granddaughters.  For better or worse, most of you have had a similar experience of seeing or communicating much more with some of your close family members this year.  That can be wonderful, but it can also create stress, especially with parents with small children having to work from home while watching children, and maybe also assisting with their virtual schooling!!!  Life can be overwhelming this year with all the family time required to make life work!!!!

 

Yet I believe that God loves all the additional time and opportunities that families have had to spend time together – with those people they love the most on this earth!!!!  The time a family has to make a difference in the life of their child, grandchild, or great-grandchild is so fleeting, we need to take advantage of all that available time.  This year, we have certainly been blessed with such opportunities!

 

Proverbs 22:6 – Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he grows older he will not abandon it.

 

Maybe you have had more time with other family members such as siblings, parents, or grandparents.  Whomever you have had the blessing to be with and serve, count it as a blessing from God and appreciate it as long as you can!

 

Proverbs 17:17 – A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

 

Friends are indeed important and essential in our lives and may be a more constant source of love and support.  But a family member, although maybe not as near to us geographically or in our hearts on a regular basis, can be counted on in time of trouble.  If coronavirus has drawn some of your family closer together, consider it a blessing from God.

 

So based on my life experience to date in 2020, I find the following scripture most compelling.

 

Matthew 6:34 – So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.

 

The craziness of this year just doesn’t seem to want to end, in fact, we can argue it is getting worse with the latest shutdowns preventing life from returning to any sense of normalcy.   As Sarah Young stated in one of her thanksgiving week devotionals – “Thank me frequently; be on the lookout for my blessings, searching for them as for hidden treasures.”  As I look back on this past year, I realize the many true blessings I have received – even if at the time I didn’t recognize them as blessings!!

 

Other blessings we receive are for things we do for others, so we should ask each day – what can I do today to make a difference for my family, for my friends, for my church, for a stranger, for God?????  Opportunities abound to make a difference for someone else each day, to be a blessing for someone other than ourselves who need a favor, or a loving message, or just a phone call, or………………….???????  If you pray when you wake up each day asking God to lead you in service to someone in need today, and you give that request careful consideration throughout your day, you will be surprised when you pray that night at the godly contributions you will have made to others around you to whom God led you.

 

Proverbs 16:1 – The plans of the heart belong to a person, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

 

Pray to God, then follow your heart, and you will be richly blessed!

 

Romans 8:18 – For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

 

Amen!