“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever”
The day starts with making a huge meal, we try really hard to provide all our residents with a meal on every holiday. In addition to cooking a feast of roast beast and smashed taters, we love giving our staff the day off so they can be with their family.
But what about giving thanks? We have so much to be grateful for and yet so often we feel we deserve more… More time off, more money, more stuff to play with… MORE MORE MORE! WHEN IS MORE ENOUGH?
A long time ago, I heard a man say this: He asked the man “How much money is enough?” He replied without hesitation “just a little bit more”
John D. Rockefeller’s net worth was equivalent to about 1% of the entire U.S. economy. Yet what level of contentment did he have? I fear he died needing “just a little bit more” but it wasn’t money he brought into eternity, it was a life lived desiring money…
I have known so many folks that love money, both “rich” and even more so the “poor”. Striving after money, letting the world around them spin in turmoil as they dream about money, believing that “just a little more” will solve the problems they face on a daily basis… If it were true that money resolves the problem, winning the lottery would NOT bring the lucky recipients to the brink of death, into drug addiction and nearly always ending in a more horrible life than if they hadn’t ever had the huge “win” that changes their life… FOREVER!
The bible talks about this in 1 Tim 6:10 “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
How is it that the poor, the destitute and down trodden are loving money? By living a life in pursuit of money, it matters not that they never achieve the big win, what matters is they spend their entire life looking for that one big win… an entire life seeking “just a little more”… This sounds like taxes?
The Government is a perfect example of the “love of money” . The government is by design making life better for all folks. Taxes may increase and some taxes are only temporary, like so many gas taxes.. and when the taxes go back down.. Oh wait, they never actually go down, do they?
As a small business owner, I pay a lot of fees, taxes, surcharges, filing fees, I even pay a special tax for being self employed, another special tax to have an employee, and other taxes to do business. Now this coming year we pay a special tax to give employees time off. But at least we don’t see any fraud and gov waste in Minnesota! I would suspect the Government should have resolved health care, homelessness, poverty and every other form of “oppression”… but this is thanksgiving so we should look at new ways to give thanks, TO GOD!
Today I am thankful for so many blessings. On the last day of hunting, we took a trip to the cities and left our pups to play outside. New GPS collars keep them out of the woods as the brave hunters stock the big one, shooting anything that moves… Well, Drax cut his foot, it was bleeding badly, we got home and he is fine now but he showed signs of anemia (blood loss)… we moved into action, stopped the bleeding, bandaged him up and saved his life… I thank God we got home before he died. I am thankfull that I had first aid training to fix him up and Jess had the touch to keep me and Drax calm while directing Al to bed.
This may seem like something tragic but God was in this as well, his hand was directing the rescue of our awesome BIG pup, and today he is no worse for the wear aside from favoring his foot from time to time. But last year he got hit by a car and survived (that’s why we got the GPS collars) so yes, we are thankful, but this is only a small example of what we are thankful for…
You see, we have Sam’s Place, and as I cook the second turkey at home, and we prepare to head up to Sam’s Place to finish preparing dinner, I thank God we can do this… we have a healthy church to attend on Sunday, we have a great family that calls and reminds me how great our boys are, we have health, we have chickens, pups, we have so much to say thanks for…
But let me tell you about the greatest reason to give thanks, JESUS!
I realized many years ago that God created me for a purpose, and in that life of struggling before I found my purpose, I lived for myself, made choices that were me centered. I learned that I was not a good person and I was not doing the things in this world God wanted me to do, in fact I am a sinner that needed to Turn form my self serving life and discover the joy God had for me in serving others, sharing the Gospel and doing something good.
The day I found contentment in trusting God’s plan, my life didnt get easy, it didnt get fun, it didnt change to rainbows and unicorns… It got harder, it got purpose, it got value… my life became something greater than anything I could have created, I started serving GOD. Life finally made sense! No more Monday night football games and driving home drunk. No more Thursday night sitting in the bar until 9 pm. No more avoiding my responsibilities. No more living for myself. Rather I died and God raised up a new man in my place. And I have never been more joyfilled, thankful and content.
On this cold Thursday, I ask you one question: Do you know Jesus, and does Jesus know you? If not, what are you waiting for? Do you also need to do what I did in my life? Do you need to do things your way? Is it working for you? Ok so that’s more than one question, but I think you understand what I am trying to say.
Just to be clear, you can not save yourself and nothing you do can help you become saved. You can do nothing to add to your salvation. Surrender your life to the will of Jesus. WHATS STOPPING YOU FROM TRUE THANKFULNESS?
Thankful and grateful this beautiful winters day, C