Creating Space for Advent

/1 Comment/in , , , , /by

The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. Lamentations 3:25-26 (ESV)

Time to relax, put up your feet, and loosen the belt, Thanksgiving is over. Sorry to tell you but the rest is short-lived. The official race has begun toward Christmas! You can’t help but feel a bit of anxiety at the very mention of Christmas, even though you may love the season. Somehow the lists start making lists in your head. How am I going to get all the stuff done? How can I ever get all the presents bought, the cards sent out and the food prepared? The calendar is filling up with this event, that party to attend, and all the Hallmark Christmas movies to watch.  Since Advent is still a week away, maybe we need a pre-advent Advent to prepare us for Advent. Maybe this pre-Advent week can permit us to catch our breath and slow down before the Christmas rush.

92-year-old Alfredo Aliaga just hiked the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim in October. Hiking 24 miles with more than 10,000 feet of climbing most likely allows a person to slow down and reflect. However, it also puts you into the Guinness world record by becoming the oldest person to complete it.  Maybe your pre-advent slowness will not put you on the Rim-to-Rim but it could open your eyes to the wonders of God as we prepare for the coming Messiah.

British pastor Pete Greig writes, “Isn’t it extraordinary that Jesus never hurried? With just three years to save the world, He still made time for fishing trips, picnics, and parties, which means that He was officially less busy than most pastors.” Finding moments of slowness can allow our souls to catch up with our bodies reflecting that “This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 NLT)

What if we use this week to find ways to slow down? There is a temptation to go as fast as we can during this month since we have so much to get done. Amid our mad rush, we easily overlook the beauty and joy leading up to Advent. Japanese Christian and theologian Kosuke Koyama calls God, “The Three Mile an Hour God”, not because God doesn’t move fast but because He slows down to our speed.

“God walks ‘slowly’ because he is love. If he is not love he would have gone much faster. Love has its speed. It is an inner speed. It is a spiritual speed. It is a different kind of speed from the technological speed to which we are accustomed. It is “slow’ yet it is lord over all other speeds since it is the speed of love. It goes on in the depth of our life, whether we notice or not, whether we are currently hit by storm or not, at three miles an hour. It is the speed we walk and therefore it is the speed the love of God walks.” (Kosuke Koyama, Three Mile an Hour God)

Who better to teach us to walk three miles an hour than Jesus? I am sure Jesus had things to do and places to be but by walking three miles an hour, a hopeless and desperate woman was able to reach out and touch him. “And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.” (Luke 8:43-48) If Jesus had been going as fast as we do from one store to the next, the woman, in her physical condition, wouldn’t have been able to catch him.

Jesus could hear Bartimaeus cry for help because he always walked at the speed the love of God walked. “Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” …” What do you want me to do for you? The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.” (Mark 10:46-52) Bartimaeus could now walk at the speed the love of God walks.

Creating space to wander a little this week may be the best preparation for the coming Advent season. Could it be we find space to walk at the speed that God walks? It will not be easy with kids back in school, back to work schedules, weekly routines, and the rush of the holiday season starting. Yet in finding moments where we can saunter a bit, especially outside, we will enjoy a refreshed and restored soul. Henri Nouwen writes, “We have to fashion our own desert, where we can withdraw every day, shake off our compulsions, and dwell in the gentle healing presence of our Lord.” (from The Way of the Heart)

The late Calvin Miller wrote, “It’s the road that defines my day, and yet it isn’t. I know where the road is going, but I have lost all interest in the scenery. I know if I could meet some of my fellow travelers around a campfire, we would likely become good friends. But I am shut up in that modern monastic cell called the automobile. And there I listen to Christian music. And there I pray, with eyes straight ahead, for all that makes a multitasking disciple grow quiet and whole in a buzzing, honking, rubber-on-concrete world.” (from the Path of Celtic Prayer)

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper rev’rence, praise.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace. (lyrics Dear Lord and Father of Mankind-John Greenleaf Whittier)

Be blessed as you journey through this week and may you find moments to walk at the speed of God.

God is great!

 

 

 

 

Cultivating One’s Mind for Thanksgiving

/1 Comment/in , , , /by

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:4-5 NIV

What comes to your mind when you think about Thanksgiving Day? For many, it will be family gatherings, lots of food that you get only one day a year, and lots of laughter. Singer Amy Grant writes, “Thanksgiving Day is a good day to recommit our energies to giving thanks and just giving.”

Thanksgiving is rich in traditions spanning the generations, traditions beyond food and family to such things as football games and parades. The Detroit Lions have played continuously on Thanksgiving Day since 1934 except for five years during World War II. Naturally, Thanksgiving wouldn’t be complete if it didn’t include watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade which has been part of the celebrations since 1924. Now for the truly brave at heart, there is Black Friday to end the celebration. Black Friday allows those brave hearts, who venture out into the malls and shopping centers of America, to be part of an indescribable shopping frenzy.

Memories are embedded into our minds as we reflect upon Thanksgiving celebrations from the past. In these past Thanksgivings, we set aside time to remember the gifts of gratitude, love, and fellowship in our lives. Author Jonathan Safran Foer wrote, “Thanksgiving is the holiday that encompasses all others.”

The third stanza of Edgar Albert Guest’s poem, Thanksgiving reflects well on cultivating your mind for Thanksgiving. Guest has been called “the poet of the people” as his poems presented a deeply sentimental view of everyday life.

Bowed are our heads for a moment in prayer;

Oh, but we’re grateful an’ glad to be there.

Home from the east land an’ home from the west,

Home with the folks that are dearest an’ best.

Out of the sham of the cities afar

We’ve come for a time to be just what we are.

Here we can talk of ourselves an’ be frank,

Forgettin’ position an’ station an’ rank.

 

Cultivating One’s Mind for Thanksgiving looks beyond the superficial traditions. I enjoy the football games on TV and watch some of the Macy’s Day Parade but what counts is family, faith, and fellowship. Through the years we all have planted memories into our minds from the countless Thanksgiving meals as we gathered around tables, chairs scattered throughout the house or anywhere we could find a space to sit.

I never could relate to Charlie Brown’s quip, “I can’t cook a Thanksgiving dinner. All I can make is cold cereal and maybe toast.”  Growing up in Oklahoma, our little four-room home became Grand Central Station as family and occasionally a few strangers gathered. Whoever came found a place at the table to enjoy a feast that my Mother lovingly and skillfully prepared.

Cultivating One’s Mind for Thanksgiving looks for ways to express gratitude. However, to truly express gratitude it has to come from a mind that knows God as the ultimate giver of gifts. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)

John Milton wrote, “Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life.”  It is in this time of thanksgiving that we express gratitude, not only for what we have but for what we are becoming. We come to where we can “Taste and see that the LORD is good, blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” (Ps 34:8).

Cultivating One’s Mind for Thanksgiving needs to have a mind that is filled with the only One worthy of Thanksgiving. “The more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for.” (Norman Vincent Peale) As our minds become focused on God, we can then say “I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.” (Ps 63:5)

Centuries before the American version of Thanksgiving, David proclaimed a call to set aside time for a celebration of thanksgiving as the Ark was finally coming home to Jerusalem. “After David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD. Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each Israelite man and woman.” (I Chron 16:2-3 NIV)

David closed out the celebration with a prayer of praise, ending with the words, “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Cry out, “Save us, God our Savior’ gather us and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise.” Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Then all the people said “Amen” and “Praise the LORD.” (I Chron 16:34-36)

Cultivating one’s heart, soul, and mind for Thanksgiving Day can draw us closer to family, friends, and most importantly to God. Hopefully, as the days were marked off in November you have found sacred moments to reflect upon being thankful. “To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.” (Johannes Gaertner)

Happy Thanksgiving Day.

God is great!

Cultivating One’s Soul for Thanksgiving

/1 Comment/in , , /by

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100 NIV

There are just some songs, regardless of musical genre, that would easily fit into the category of nostalgia.  “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” would be one of them.  I wonder if Bing Crosby ever imagined that his song would be one of those at the top of the nostalgia category nine decades later. Naturally, there are always new songs coming out during the different holidays, some will be classics, and others will quickly be forgotten. I am unsure if Carrie Underwood’s, Stretchy Pants fun song will top Bing Crosby but the words speak truth.

So bring on the turkey, potatoes, casserole dishes
‘Cause I ain’t messing around with them buttoned up britches
You got them skinny jeans on, girl, I feel sorry for you
‘Cause I just tried everything, and I’m going back for round two (from Stretchy Pants song by Carrie Underwood, https://youtu.be/Eo5ZLdbcZsk?si=OE5_klcJrnUiMQNv

There is no doubt that the Christmas season dominates the music scene, according to Blokur, there are 9,274 songs with Christmas in the title. (from the article, How Many Christmas Songs, Phil Barry). Stretchy Pants may be an appropriate song for Thanksgiving Day but does it Cultivate One’s Soul for Thanksgiving?

Cultivating One’s Soul for Thanksgiving requires us to look beyond what we have to the Who that has our lives and is worthy of Thanksgiving. “Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.” (Psalm 115:1 NIV) We live in an age when we like nice and tidy cubicles to define our lives; How can I be thankful when I am in pain? How can offer praise when I am anxious about tomorrow? However, it was in the mystery and the challenges of life that the Psalmist wrote of thanksgiving often nested amid lament.

Cultivating One’s Soul for Thanksgiving doesn’t happen on one day of the year. Sitting around the table on Thanksgiving Day is a great time to reflect on what you have to be thankful for but not if you haven’t cultivated the soul’s thankfulness the other 364 days this year. Retired minister Fred Gulley writes, “Neither original authors, nor commentators, nor translators delayed thanksgiving until a special occasion or a red letter calendar day. Any day, every day, was considered an opportunity to be grateful for abundant blessings and to express personal thankfulness.”

Cultivating One’s Soul for Thanksgiving is about learning to be thankful. November may be the transition month to Christmas but it is also National Gratitude Month. Research has shown that the simple act of expressing gratitude has a major impact on mental health. “Studies have found that a single act of thoughtful gratitude produces an immediate 10% increase in happiness and a 35% reduction in depressive symptoms. These effects disappeared within three to six months, which reminds us to practice gratitude over and over.”  (National Council for Mental Wellbeing)

Professors Bob Emmons of UC, Davis and Michael McCullough of SMU launched a series of studies on gratitude.  Professor Emmons noted that “People want to be happy, but they believe it’s objective life circumstances that will make them happy—a new car, a raise, a new lover. Actually, it’s the framing of events and experiences—not the events themselves—that make us happy. It comes down to attitude.”

The writers of the Psalms understood the necessity of gratitude centuries before the current awareness of keeping a Gratitude Journal. As you are cultivating your soul you learn that “Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.” (Psalm 112:4)

A lot of folks will be traveling over the next couple of weeks as they gather with families and friends to celebrate Thanksgiving. The TSA reports that “the busiest travel days of the year are usually the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after Thanksgiving.” (AFAR) As you gather around the table this year, let it be a Holy Ground moment for your soul to gently rest as you “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.” (Psalm 136)

Johnny Cash understood the importance of gratitude after his career and life were almost destroyed by a serious substance abuse problem. Through all his lows, he never abandoned his faith. Lesli White writes of Cash, “In his final days, despite moment-by-moment battles with diabetes, glaucoma, asthma and a progressive, debilitating case of autonomic nephropathy which pretty much confined Cash to a wheelchair during his waking hours, the Man in Black was anything but in a black mood. In fact, he was celebrating his life and his redeemer while he could.”  Johnny Cash Cultivated His Soul for Thanksgiving.

I’m grateful for the laughter of children
The sun and the wind and the rain
The color of blue in your sweet eyes
The sight of a high “ballin” train
The moon rise over a prairie
Old love that you’ve made new
This year when I count my blessings
I’m thanking the Lord He made you
This year when I count my blessings
I’m thanking the Lord He made you   (Johnny Cash, Thanksgiving Prayer https://youtu.be/egIB7tYW80M?si=YU-_CLsOUMLj9Q1J )

Cultivating One’s Soul for Thanksgiving leads to a beautiful testimony of being able to “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.” (I Chron 16:34 NIV)

God is great!

 

Cultivating a Heart of Thanksgiving

/1 Comment/in , , , /by

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1 (NIV)

Cultivating a heart of thanksgiving could easily symbolize the lives of Lin and Peter Calvert. These two young, starry-eyed New Zealanders met in medical school and were married in 1949. Friends and family assumed these two graduating doctors would set up a medical practice that would bring them wealth and comfort. Instead, they moved to Papua New Guinea in 1954 with the London Missionary Society to serve at the Kapuna Hospital, a place that would be their home for the next seven decades.

Lin Calvert, better known as Grandma Lin, would literally touch the lives of generations of residents delivering over 10,000 babies during her 60 years at Kapuna, saving countless lives through an aggressive treatment of tuberculosis and encouraging immunization against deadly diseases, such as measles and cholera.  One resident said of Calvert, “She didn’t show partiality toward those who received her love: young, old, rich, poor, foreigner, or local. If Grandma could pour love into a person, she would. Calvert said in a 2019 interview, “Not many people stay 60 years, but the longer you stay, the less dogmatic you get, the less proud you get, and the feeling is, it was all God anyway who did it. All the good bits were him.”

Grandma Lin was buried next to Peter on the grounds of the hospital where they had devoted their lives. Fellow doctor Neil Hopkins said of Lin Calvert at her funeral service, “She was wholeheartedly devoted to honoring God and living for Jesus through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.” (Erin Foley – author of Kapuna: How Love Transformed a Culture)

The Calverts most likely could identify with the answer that Richelle Goodrich gave to the question, “What are you most thankful for?” Goodrich replied, “Being too blessed to have any hope of answering that question.” The Calverts learned that cultivating a heart of thanksgiving was life-changing.

November has become the placeholder between Halloween and Christmas or so it seems. Halloween has dominated the month of October with Christmas seemingly starting on November 1. Americans spent approximately $12.2 billion on Halloween this year and spending forecasts for Christmas are projected to reach $1.1 Trillion. Yet during November’s busy days, somewhere between the Christmas trees, football games, and lavish feasts, you can find the one day officially set aside by law as a day to give thanks.

Though Thanksgiving is most often identified with the United States, it is not the only country that has set aside a day to be thankful as numerous other countries have a similar day to give thanks. Setting aside one day sounds great but it should not be the only day devoted to Thanksgiving. The other 364 days should be filled with thanksgiving.  Countless Scriptures can be found encouraging you to daily cultivate a heart of thanksgiving in your life.

Cultivating a heart of thanksgiving reminds you to keep your focus on God. “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.” (I Chron. 16:34) It is so easy to become discouraged and fearful as the daily onslaught of news brings a sense of hopelessness. It is only through your focus on God that you can maintain a sense of hope and courage. Focusing on God through thanksgiving and praise allows you to reorient your thoughts and most likely your priorities. Jim Elliott wrote, “I pray for you, that all your misgivings will be melted to thanksgivings. Remember that the shadow a thing casts often far exceeds the size of the thing itself (especially if the light is low on the horizon) and though some future fear may strut brave darkness as you approach, the thing itself will be but a speck when seen from beyond. Oh that He would restore us often with that ‘aspect from beyond,’ to see a thing as He sees it, to remember that He dealeth with us as with sons.”

Cultivating a heart of thanksgiving brings peace. It is through this cultivated heart of thanksgiving that peace dominates your life. You courageously say, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” (Colossians 3:15) G. K. Chesterton wrote, “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”

Cultivating a heart of thanksgiving brings joy. Paul writing to the believers in Thessalonica, encouraged them to “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (I Thess 5:16-18 NIV) Lydia Brownback writes in her book, Joy: A Godly Woman’s Adornment, “How can we help what we feel? We just can’t muster up joyful feelings; that’s true. But we can rejoice, which sooner or later leads to joyful feelings. Rejoicing is not a feeling. It is joy in action. It is the humble willingness to offer God praise and thanks in all things, regardless of how we feel at the moment. “

You may not be able to change the tone or focus about Thanksgiving as the busy preparation for Christmas overwhelms you pushing Thanksgiving Day out of the way. You may find Thanksgiving Day is overshadowed by lots of activities and events out of your control. However, with a bit of effort on your part, you can begin cultivating a heart of thanksgiving even amid the craziness.  Thomas Merton wrote a poignant warning that “those who are not grateful soon begin to complain of everything.”

I hope you find as you cultivate a heart of thanksgiving, the gift of rest and joy. Warren Wiersbe writes, “The Christian who walks with the Lord and keeps constant communion with Him will see many reasons for rejoicing and thanksgiving all day long.”

“For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.” (I Timothy 4:4-5)

God is great!