A Thankful Heart

Today is Thanksgiving and, hopefully, we all like to talk about everything we are thankful for on this day.  We list things like health, family members, friends, shelter, transportation, jobs, etc.  But, do we remember to give thanks to the One from whom all good things come?  I try to live each day with a thankful heart and I even recall praying as a teenager that I would never take for granted all the good things God did in my life.  We have even more to be thankful for if we live a life of obedience to God because He blesses us even more.  That topic is definitely a blog post for another day, but I am assured that even when things in my life don't go the way I expect them to go; I know that if I'm living a life of obedience then God will bless me and change my situation or change my attitude about it.

Of course, being me, I'm also thankful for the little, crazy things in my life.  I'm thankful for whoever invented leggings and that they are still in style this year.  I'm thankful that my adventure into the land of having red in my hair has now faded nicely to a normal color--and I'm thankful that when I first got the color done I could laugh it off when people thought I had done it for the Cardinals.  I'm thankful that I have the kind of husband who searched high and low to buy me my favorite perfume for Christmas last year when it has been discontinued.  I'm thankful for sales and coupons at my favorite clothing stores.  I'm thankful that Lindy and Jac were OK when they hit someone in MY CAR.  (This is the second new to fairly new car of mine that Lindy has wrecked in our marriage.  He's also side swiped one vehicle of ours with another and taken off part of the siding on our garage from pulling in to close to the side...and they talk about woman drivers.  Just saying).  I'm thankful that he lets me tease him about stuff.  Trust me, it goes both ways.  I'm thankful that I have a 12-year-old boy who still lets me hug and kiss him.  I'm thankful that I have a 9-year-old boy who will still sit on my lap--on occasion.  I'm thankful that I have a 5-year-old boy who snuggles my neck, sighs contentedly, and says, "I love that smell."  I'm thankful for all these things and so much more.  It would be impossible to list them all and not leave someone or something out.  Instead of having my own exhaustive list I want to close this post with the words of the psalmist, David--sort of.  This is Psalm 111 from "The Message" bible.  If you don't read the Bible at all or if it doesn't make sense to you, try out "The Message."

Psalm 111

Hallelujah!

I give thanks to God with everything I've got--

Wherever good people gather, and in the congregation.

God's works are so great, worth

A lifetime of study--endless enjoyment!

Splendor and beauty mark his craft;

His generosity never gives out.

His miracles are his memorial--

This God of Grace, this God of Love.

He gave food to those who fear him,

He remembered to keep his ancient promise.

He proved to his people that he could do what he said:

Hand them the nations on a platter--a gift!

He manufactures truth and justice;

All his products are guaranteed to last--

Never out-of-date, never obsolete, rust-proof.

All that he makes and does is honest and true:

He paid the ransom for his people.

He ordered his Covenant kept forever.

He's so personal and holy, worthy of our respect.

The good life begins in the fear of God--

Do that and you'll know the blessing of God.

His Hallelujah lasts forever!

Need I say more?  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and remember to give thanks to the One who gave it all for us.

My Dad is Turning 80 Years Old...And This is What I Think He Would Say It's All About

This is my Dad as a handsome young guy in the Navy.
Fitting since his birthday is two days after Veteran's Day.

I can't believe my Dad is turning 80 years old on the 13th.  He doesn't really seem "old man" to me so it's a little difficult to wrap my brain around this milestone.  Of course, since I was born when he was 40 years old...I'll let you fill in the blank with what that means for me next year.  I wrote quite a bit about my Dad back at Father's Day so rather than writing about him as a person I thought I would try to put myself in his shoes and write about the heritage he has created in his 80 years.  If you were to ask him what his life has been all about I believe he would say that this is what it's all about.

So, what is this?  Is it having lots of money?  While he's been frugal, smart, and conservative with his decisions about money I don't think he would agree that he has amassed a great fortune in monetary wealth or that this is what it's all about.  Is it having advanced degrees?  While he had a double major in college and graduated at the top of his class and then pursued classes towards a master's degree I don't believe he would say that this is what it's all about.  Is it pastoring a mega church if your calling is to be a pastor?  I'm positive he wouldn't say that was what it's all about.  Would he say that it's about still having all of your own teeth when you turn 80 years old?  I don't think he would say that this is what it's all about--although I think he would want you to know that he does, indeed, still have all of his own teeth.   Rather than come out and tell you what I think he would say, here's an illustration that will demonstrate my opinion.  

My three boys attend public school because it's free and because my husband and I feel that the best way to be the light in a darkened world is to actually be in the darkened world where we can be the light.  This goes against the opinion of private schoolers, Christian schoolers, and home schoolers.  I'm cool with that.  People make their own decisions about their own children for their own reasons.  Our kids happen to be both well-adjusted and emotionally mature, and relatively unscathed from their public school experience thus far.  My husband's and my parents had both of us and our siblings attend public school.  I'm sure it was for the same reasons, but especially because of the "free" part.  I know that neither of our families could have afforded private or Christian school.  So, they prayed that God would protect our bodies, minds, and spirits and sent us on our merry way.  We do the same with our children.  On the one morning each week I am actually able to see my boys out the front door I pray for them and ask God that they would "shine the light of Jesus to everyone around them."  And, "shine" they do.  The two boys of mine who are old enough to actually write and put sentences together incorporate Jesus or church or something about their faith into everything they turn in at school.  We have never suggested or encouraged them to do this.  I don't believe Jac and Ethan ever discuss this either.  For years they have brought home paper after paper and assignment after assignment and art project after art project that incorporate their faith.  I don't save a lot of them, but I saved this one that Ethan brought home recently.  He was asked to write a paper titled "My Favorite Place" and it was supposed to include each of his five senses and how his favorite place related to his senses.  So, here you go.  Keep in mind when you read this that our church is on 16 acres and he was apparently thinking of Wednesday night at church when there is dinner before church starts.

My Favorite Place

by Ethan Carnett   

     My favorite place is church.  Here are some things outside my church that make my senses explode.  First, two of the things I see are a jump house and a bunch of kids.  Next, I hear bugs and snakes.  Then, I smell the woods and good food.  When I go inside I taste funnel cakes and fried Oreos.  When I'm there I feel like I'm at home and I feel needed.  Now you see how my senses come alive at my church. 

Obviously, you can guess that my favorite part is what Ethan says he feels when he's at church.  That's the way I wish everyone would feel when they are at church.  Knowing that they are at home and that they feel needed might actually make people who don't go to church want to go to church.  That's what church should be--a family that makes you feel at home and has something for you to do so that you feel needed.  It's ironic that our church motto or slogan or whatever they call it is "A Place to Call Home."  A 9-year-old boy feels it.  I think other people do too.  Never have we had to make our children go to church or force them to go.  There is no battle about church--and we are there early and stay late.  They love to go because of the reasons Ethan mentioned and because they have their own love for the things of God.  That is what was instilled in us as children and that is what we are cultivating in our children.

Ethan is only one of my Dad's six offspring--between his two children and four grandchildren.  The beautiful part is that all of Dad's offspring, including his daughter-in-law and son-in-law are part of the wonderful heritage he has prayed for over his 80 years.  We all love Jesus and each other and are peaceful and content in serving God.  We are blessed and our blessings are no accident.  They are promises found in God's Word that are there for anyone who is called a child of God and has truly made Him their Lord and Savior.  Lindy often says, "Everyone wants a Savior, not as many people want a Lord."  It's about living your life in submission to God's will and not your own.  Our family's blessings are a result of a life dedicated to God and lived for Jesus and for us it begins with the leadership we have benefitted from in this person we love who is turning 80 years old.  

So, what would my Dad say that it's all about?  For him, I believe that turning 80 years old is only sweetness and light because all of his family has made Jesus their number one priority as he chose to do along with my mother many, many years ago.  This is what it's all about.