A Note From Pastor Laura
Dear Friends,
Autumn has arrived! The leaves are already falling and on some days we can even feel winter nipping at autumn's heels. Soon it will be the thanksgiving holiday, when we focus on our blessings and express our gratitude to God for them. In a few weeks, we will be looking at Joshua 4 and the biblical understanding of gratitude or thankfulness in light of God's faithfulness to us. As God's people, we understand that thanks should be on our lips every day - for ALL of life - the past, the present, and the future. Can we ever say thank you enough to family, friends, and especially to God - even in the midst of these challenging days? According to scripture, thankfulness should be an integral part of our everyday lives and when it becomes so, we will find that our attitude towards life changes. We will become more positive, gracious, loving and humble. We have much to be thankful for in our lives, even amidst chaos and conflict. Sometimes, naming our blessings require deep contemplation and honesty. Because of this, I am encouraging you to take some extra time and effort every day to name your blessings and then, express thanks to God.
Thanks cannot be expressed on our behalf by someone else. We ourselves are the best person to express our thankfulness to God. Too often we focus on the bad things that happen to us and not on the blessings we have. Scripture is filled with examples of God’s people behaving ungratefully: focusing only on what they don’t have, and complaining that their blessings are lacking or are not good enough. Do we belittle and put down all the things we have been blessed with? Are we grateful for what God has given us or are we thinking about what we don’t have? As God’s people we need to develop an attitude of thankfulness. Sometimes we need to be not only thankful for the “roses” and the beautiful things in our lives but also the “thorns” we are experience. “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) Each of us, myself included, must learn how to give thanks in every situation. Our thankfulness should not fluctuate with our circumstances or feelings. This is illustrated in a story called the “Blessing of Thorns”.
A woman named Sandra who had been struggling with some personal issues in her life did not feel thankful at Thanksgiving. She entered a flower shop for an arrangement. The clerk asked: "Is this for Thanksgiving? Do you want beautiful but ordinary, or would you like to challenge the day with a customer favorite I call the “Thanksgiving Special?" The clerk continued, "I'm convinced that flowers tell stories," she said. "Are you looking for something that conveys 'gratitude' this thanksgiving?" "Not exactly!" Sandra blurted out. "In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong." Before they could continue their conversation several customers come in asking for the “Thanksgiving Special” To Sandra’s somewhat horror, the “Thanksgiving special was a bouquet of long-stemmed thorny roses. Except the flowers of the rose stems were neatly snipped: there were no flowers! The special was a “Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet." Sandra couldn’t believe anyone would pay for them. The clerk went on to explain the struggles she had gone through and how she turned to God and learned to be thankful for thorns in her life.
Like so many people she had always thanked God for the good things in her life and never questioned the good things that happened to her, but when bad stuff hit, she questioned God why it happened! The clerk went on to explain that it took time for her to learn that dark times are important. Experience taught her that “thorns” in life make “roses” more precious. We treasure God's providential care more during trouble than at any other time. We must also remember that, it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His love. We can’t resent forever, the thorns in our life.
In the end Sandra decided to get the “Thanksgiving Special”. The clerk told her the first year’s “thorny bouquet” was on the house. The clerk handed Sandra the special card that went with it. It read: "My God, I have never thanked you for my thorns. I have thanked you a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the difficulties I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have drawn closer to you along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of your rainbow look much more brilliant." In everything good or bad, can we find reasons to be thankful? As we prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday, even amidst chaos, conflict, and pain – for what, can we be thankful? Perhaps on our lists, we might even be able to list a few thorns that were actually blessings in disguise. But, being thankful extends well past the Thanksgiving holiday.
As Christians, let us be thankful and faithful every day.
With prayers of thanksgiving for YOU,
Pastor Laura
Autumn has arrived! The leaves are already falling and on some days we can even feel winter nipping at autumn's heels. Soon it will be the thanksgiving holiday, when we focus on our blessings and express our gratitude to God for them. In a few weeks, we will be looking at Joshua 4 and the biblical understanding of gratitude or thankfulness in light of God's faithfulness to us. As God's people, we understand that thanks should be on our lips every day - for ALL of life - the past, the present, and the future. Can we ever say thank you enough to family, friends, and especially to God - even in the midst of these challenging days? According to scripture, thankfulness should be an integral part of our everyday lives and when it becomes so, we will find that our attitude towards life changes. We will become more positive, gracious, loving and humble. We have much to be thankful for in our lives, even amidst chaos and conflict. Sometimes, naming our blessings require deep contemplation and honesty. Because of this, I am encouraging you to take some extra time and effort every day to name your blessings and then, express thanks to God.
Thanks cannot be expressed on our behalf by someone else. We ourselves are the best person to express our thankfulness to God. Too often we focus on the bad things that happen to us and not on the blessings we have. Scripture is filled with examples of God’s people behaving ungratefully: focusing only on what they don’t have, and complaining that their blessings are lacking or are not good enough. Do we belittle and put down all the things we have been blessed with? Are we grateful for what God has given us or are we thinking about what we don’t have? As God’s people we need to develop an attitude of thankfulness. Sometimes we need to be not only thankful for the “roses” and the beautiful things in our lives but also the “thorns” we are experience. “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) Each of us, myself included, must learn how to give thanks in every situation. Our thankfulness should not fluctuate with our circumstances or feelings. This is illustrated in a story called the “Blessing of Thorns”.
A woman named Sandra who had been struggling with some personal issues in her life did not feel thankful at Thanksgiving. She entered a flower shop for an arrangement. The clerk asked: "Is this for Thanksgiving? Do you want beautiful but ordinary, or would you like to challenge the day with a customer favorite I call the “Thanksgiving Special?" The clerk continued, "I'm convinced that flowers tell stories," she said. "Are you looking for something that conveys 'gratitude' this thanksgiving?" "Not exactly!" Sandra blurted out. "In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong." Before they could continue their conversation several customers come in asking for the “Thanksgiving Special” To Sandra’s somewhat horror, the “Thanksgiving special was a bouquet of long-stemmed thorny roses. Except the flowers of the rose stems were neatly snipped: there were no flowers! The special was a “Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet." Sandra couldn’t believe anyone would pay for them. The clerk went on to explain the struggles she had gone through and how she turned to God and learned to be thankful for thorns in her life.
Like so many people she had always thanked God for the good things in her life and never questioned the good things that happened to her, but when bad stuff hit, she questioned God why it happened! The clerk went on to explain that it took time for her to learn that dark times are important. Experience taught her that “thorns” in life make “roses” more precious. We treasure God's providential care more during trouble than at any other time. We must also remember that, it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His love. We can’t resent forever, the thorns in our life.
In the end Sandra decided to get the “Thanksgiving Special”. The clerk told her the first year’s “thorny bouquet” was on the house. The clerk handed Sandra the special card that went with it. It read: "My God, I have never thanked you for my thorns. I have thanked you a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the difficulties I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have drawn closer to you along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of your rainbow look much more brilliant." In everything good or bad, can we find reasons to be thankful? As we prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday, even amidst chaos, conflict, and pain – for what, can we be thankful? Perhaps on our lists, we might even be able to list a few thorns that were actually blessings in disguise. But, being thankful extends well past the Thanksgiving holiday.
As Christians, let us be thankful and faithful every day.
With prayers of thanksgiving for YOU,
Pastor Laura
