I'm always chasing after something. Chasing a task I need to complete or chasing a pleasure I want to enjoy. And all that chasing, if not given perspective, leads to dissatisfaction or anxiety. I've learned that thankfulness is such a valuable practice, and very often an antidote to anxious or discouraging thoughts.
I'm interested in highlighting that again on the podcast this year for Thanksgiving and would love to get your help! I'm just interested in what comes to mind when you intentionally halt your forward momentum toward whatever that next thing is on your mind, and ask "What am I grateful to God for that is true right now?"
After sitting in silence for a minute or so, I realized I'm grateful for rain (which may or may not come today), for a wife who is beautiful inside and out having both dignity and wisdom, for my precious boys, the love they have for each other and the loving home we have together. I'm also grateful that God has provided purpose for all the mundane activities of my life, both tedious and pleasurable, that would ultimately be hopelessly, soul-suckingly pointless without God's underlying purpose in creation. And finally I'm grateful that, despite my anxious thoughts about the future, about death or what my final years may be like, that beyond all of that, the mess of this world and the mess in me that contributes to the problem, God has promised to make it all new and forever free of the futility and sadness that defines so much of it all now.
I'd love to get your thoughts between now and Tuesday the 26th. Any thoughts you want to share, even briefly stated, would be welcome and appreciated! And I can almost guarantee the exercise will be good for your day!
Thank you!
I'm interested in highlighting that again on the podcast this year for Thanksgiving and would love to get your help! I'm just interested in what comes to mind when you intentionally halt your forward momentum toward whatever that next thing is on your mind, and ask "What am I grateful to God for that is true right now?"
After sitting in silence for a minute or so, I realized I'm grateful for rain (which may or may not come today), for a wife who is beautiful inside and out having both dignity and wisdom, for my precious boys, the love they have for each other and the loving home we have together. I'm also grateful that God has provided purpose for all the mundane activities of my life, both tedious and pleasurable, that would ultimately be hopelessly, soul-suckingly pointless without God's underlying purpose in creation. And finally I'm grateful that, despite my anxious thoughts about the future, about death or what my final years may be like, that beyond all of that, the mess of this world and the mess in me that contributes to the problem, God has promised to make it all new and forever free of the futility and sadness that defines so much of it all now.
I'd love to get your thoughts between now and Tuesday the 26th. Any thoughts you want to share, even briefly stated, would be welcome and appreciated! And I can almost guarantee the exercise will be good for your day!
Thank you!