Feliz Dia de Accion de Gracias from Costa Rica!
"gratitude is not a passive act; gratitude is a battle. so be strong. be brave. and fight."
thanksgiving.
so many joyful words and pictures i see. filling up my inbox, stretching across the internet, making my heart smile. pictures of families and friends gathered together. beautifully adorned tables. joyful faces. grandma's delicious apple pie. a million messages, full of sweet words of gratitude and love. thanksgiving. a day of giving thanks. what a beautiful picture, a whole day devoted to "thank yous" and "I love yous." a whole day of forgetting what we lack, of suppressing our prideful tendencies that rule the major part of our lives, of letting go of our material desires and supposed entitlements, and of taking a good look at the beauty and love that surrounds us.
one whole day for our hearts and minds to fill up and cry out in thankfulness.
one day.
one whole day.
but I must pin point, air out, verbalize the obvious question: what about the other 364?
so many joyful words and pictures i see. filling up my inbox, stretching across the internet, making my heart smile. pictures of families and friends gathered together. beautifully adorned tables. joyful faces. grandma's delicious apple pie. a million messages, full of sweet words of gratitude and love. thanksgiving. a day of giving thanks. what a beautiful picture, a whole day devoted to "thank yous" and "I love yous." a whole day of forgetting what we lack, of suppressing our prideful tendencies that rule the major part of our lives, of letting go of our material desires and supposed entitlements, and of taking a good look at the beauty and love that surrounds us.
one whole day for our hearts and minds to fill up and cry out in thankfulness.
one day.
one whole day.
but I must pin point, air out, verbalize the obvious question: what about the other 364?
"be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and
admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever
you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him." -Colossians 3:15-20
it doesn't say to thank the Lord for his gifts and provision on the last thursday of november.
it doesn't tell us that words of praise and gratitude should only leave our lips on one day out of the year.
it tells us that our faith, our very relationship and intimacy with Christ, depends on thanksgiving, depends on expressing our thankfulness to God in everything. every day.
but if you're anything like me, on those 364 other days of the year, it's absurdly easy to focus on all of the things that you don't have. I often find myself bombarded with thoughts of self-pity, of lofty wishes, of realizations of all that I lack, of all of the things that I miss, of all that I wish could be different.
when I first arrived in Costa Rica, I had this crazy little idea that doing ministry in a foreign country would automatically create a certain intimacy with jesus that I´ve desperately been craving; in my mind, it was really just a given. it couldn´t possibly be difficult to walk closely with the lord in gratitude while doing Young Life in Latin America, right? after all, I´d be in an uncomfortable place where reliance on God would be easy, and on top of that, I'd be doing ministry. ministry, of all things. so, obviously, it would be impossible not to lift up gratitude. impossible not to live in prayer. impossible not to grow. impossible not to spend time with jesus. I figured that He would just be built into my daily life, without any work on my part. simple. convenient. no problem.
that thought probably lasted about a week.
if there´s one thing that I have discovered during my time here, it´s that having gratitude and faith is a battle. it´s a battle of time, a battle of discipline, a battle of souls.
it's a choice.
I´ll be honest, when I come home from school most afternoons, exhausted both mentally and physically, the last thing I want to do is reach into my heart and pull out a piece of thankfulness to surrender to God, to praise him for all the blessings He has bestowed upon me. when I'm tired and frustrated and homesick, the last thing I want to do is open my Bible and journal and process the thoughts and feelings sprinting through my mind and weighing down my heart. that's where Netflix comes in. that's when novels become so tempting. that's when I just want to stop thinking, to stop feeling, to escape into a different time and place, to jump into someone else's life and to experience their various thoughts and feelings while ignoring my own.
like I said, it's a battle. it's a battle for me every single day.
but Paul tells the believers in Colassians to "be thankful." it is not a request, it is not a suggestion. Paul did not write a self-help book; he does not say that being thankful in everything will help us live happier lives. he does not say that it will make us rich or make God love us more. instead, he tells us to be thankful simply because God created us to be thankful, because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. it is our privilege, our honor, our responsibility to express gratitude. gratitude itself is the way into deep relationship, into profound intimacy, with Jesus.
of course, expressing gratitude is not always simple.
and faith is not an always an easy thing to live by.
it is a battle.
it requires strength of heart.
relationship, gratitude, do not come without effort. we must fight laziness, pride, selfish tendencies. we must fight the lies and voices of the world that tell us that we don't have enough, that we are missing out, that we are lacking. we must look to the lord to fight and break the chains that enslave us to comparison. we must let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, and fight to give thanks.
because I don't know about you, but I have a whole lot to be thankful for.
if there´s one thing that I have discovered during my time here, it´s that having gratitude and faith is a battle. it´s a battle of time, a battle of discipline, a battle of souls.
it's a choice.
I´ll be honest, when I come home from school most afternoons, exhausted both mentally and physically, the last thing I want to do is reach into my heart and pull out a piece of thankfulness to surrender to God, to praise him for all the blessings He has bestowed upon me. when I'm tired and frustrated and homesick, the last thing I want to do is open my Bible and journal and process the thoughts and feelings sprinting through my mind and weighing down my heart. that's where Netflix comes in. that's when novels become so tempting. that's when I just want to stop thinking, to stop feeling, to escape into a different time and place, to jump into someone else's life and to experience their various thoughts and feelings while ignoring my own.
like I said, it's a battle. it's a battle for me every single day.
but Paul tells the believers in Colassians to "be thankful." it is not a request, it is not a suggestion. Paul did not write a self-help book; he does not say that being thankful in everything will help us live happier lives. he does not say that it will make us rich or make God love us more. instead, he tells us to be thankful simply because God created us to be thankful, because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. it is our privilege, our honor, our responsibility to express gratitude. gratitude itself is the way into deep relationship, into profound intimacy, with Jesus.
of course, expressing gratitude is not always simple.
and faith is not an always an easy thing to live by.
it is a battle.
it requires strength of heart.
relationship, gratitude, do not come without effort. we must fight laziness, pride, selfish tendencies. we must fight the lies and voices of the world that tell us that we don't have enough, that we are missing out, that we are lacking. we must look to the lord to fight and break the chains that enslave us to comparison. we must let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, and fight to give thanks.
because I don't know about you, but I have a whole lot to be thankful for.
Praise and Thanksgiving
O my God,
The fairest, greatest, first of all objects,
my heart admires, adores, loves You,
for my little vessel is as full as it can be,
and I would pour out all that fullness before You in ceaseless flow.
When I think upon and converse with You
ten thousand delightful thoughts spring up,
ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed,
ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart,
crowding into every moment of happiness.
I bless You for the soul You have created,
for adorning it, sanctifying it, though it is fixed in barren soil;
for the body You have given me,
for preserving its strength and vigour,
for providing sense to enjoy delights,
for the ease and freedom of my limbs,
for hands, eyes, ears that do thy bidding;
for thy royal bounty providing my daily support,
for a full table and overflowing cup,
for appetite, taste, sweetness,
for social joys of relatives and friends,
for ability to serve others,
for a heart that feels sorrow and necessities,
for a mind to care for my fellow-men,
for opportunities of spreading happiness around,
for loved ones in the joys of heaven,
for my own expectation of seeing You clearly.
I love You above the powers of language to express,
for what You are to your creatures.
Increase my love, O my God, through time and eternity.
--Valley of Vision
O my God,
The fairest, greatest, first of all objects,
my heart admires, adores, loves You,
for my little vessel is as full as it can be,
and I would pour out all that fullness before You in ceaseless flow.
When I think upon and converse with You
ten thousand delightful thoughts spring up,
ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed,
ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart,
crowding into every moment of happiness.
I bless You for the soul You have created,
for adorning it, sanctifying it, though it is fixed in barren soil;
for the body You have given me,
for preserving its strength and vigour,
for providing sense to enjoy delights,
for the ease and freedom of my limbs,
for hands, eyes, ears that do thy bidding;
for thy royal bounty providing my daily support,
for a full table and overflowing cup,
for appetite, taste, sweetness,
for social joys of relatives and friends,
for ability to serve others,
for a heart that feels sorrow and necessities,
for a mind to care for my fellow-men,
for opportunities of spreading happiness around,
for loved ones in the joys of heaven,
for my own expectation of seeing You clearly.
I love You above the powers of language to express,
for what You are to your creatures.
Increase my love, O my God, through time and eternity.
--Valley of Vision
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