THE CHOICE TO REJOICE!

Me looking happy.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving day. This was the first time in twenty some years that a number of our kids were elsewhere. Somehow they've grown up enough to make those decisions for themselves. Two of my granddaughters are now married, each with a child, each who were having dinner with his folks. Another decided to go visit his grandfather in another city, and one more is attending college in Israel.  That left us with still of good number of us, including three more grown-up (more or less) grandchildren, my twenty-two year old nephew (who calls me Auntnie - He ran Aunt and Lonnie together as a little guy and it stuck. I love it.) and seven of us adults. One of our "thankfuls" was for FaceTime so we got to visit with those not with for a bit.

Coming from a family of writers, one of my daughters, Ellen Cottrill, read to us as we sat down to dinner a letter she wrote to all of us, more like a story, identifying in a delightful way what each of us has accomplished or experienced in the last year. It was wonderful. Wow, I don't think any of us but Ellen realized how much God has done in each of our lives since last Thanksgiving. So much growth has taken places and so many experiences add up to seeing how blessed we are just to live in such freedom and ability to come and go as we do. A new baby was born, a new business was entered into and is doing well, another went back to school for a career change, something he would not have even thought of a year ago. There were visits to Israel and elsewhere for several of us. Many of us, including myself, would never have imagined some of the changes that have taken place in the past year. We were even surprised to hear it all as Ellen recounted it.

How about you? Have things taken place in your life this past year that you wouldn't have imagined last Thanksgiving? What has happened to you and to those you love since last Thanksgiving? Not all of what happened to us seemed good at the time, like me breaking my hip last August and spending four weeks in rehab (See Lessons From Rehab in this blog below.) I am grateful, I can tell you, not only to walk without pain, but just being able to bend at the hip to put my socks on now that it got colder seems a blessing. Therein is a lesson to never take everything for granted but to be thankful for all things. Even some of the things that have taken place that we wouldn't have wanted to happen have turned out to be blessings after all.  It's that Romans 8:28 thing:  "God works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes." Thank you, Lord!

Orthodox Jews tend to bless God for almost everything they do in a little prayer they offer up to Him. It's not a burden, its a way of life. All comes from God. It makes one delightfully cognizant of His presence with us and His blessings in each of our lives to bless Him for what He's given us throughout our days. For instance: "Blessed are you, O Lord, our God who has given us all things to enjoy."   

I would urge you to take stock also of what has happened in your life in the last year.  Even better, do it with some of those you share life with, be they friends or family.  And true, not all of them will be wonderful memories; some may even be painful or sorrowful, but seeing how much can change in a year gives us much hope for how much more can happen in the coming year that we can't even begin to imagine today.  This, of course, is not the start of a new calendar year, but we can make it the start of a year of thankfulness between now and next Thanksgiving. Just setting your mind to being aware of the good stuff in your life and around you sensitizes you to being more aware of them.  When I've asked the Lord to please make me aware of what He is doing and where He is around me, I find I'm actually more aware of His goodness and beauty throughout my day. I love the statement, "Happiness is a choice."  So is a thankful heart.

One of the first verses the Lord ever made me aware of as Him speaking directly to me was this: "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I saw rejoice."  I can't tell you I've always obeyed that command. Far from it, but when I remember it and make the CHOICE TO REJOICE, even the atmosphere seems lighter.  Ellen's thanksgiving letter yesterday cataloging how so much has taken place in each of our lives this past year made me realize that I need to stay more aware of what God is doing in other's lives all around me so I can rejoice with them too. But most of all, it is God who is so much at work in our lives to enrich them, to make us more mature and more loving, and to increase our sensitivity to His presence and His leading because often we don't even realize He's doing something significant for and in us, or that it's His doing.  I assume not everyone sees God in all that goes on in their lives  But that doesn't mean He's not behind it all, making good out of it.

So how about thanking Him now for all the good He's going to bring to you and those in your life now by faith. Faith in His goodness opens up the portals of heaven for His goodness to pour down upon us. It isn't about us trying to do something to get God to do something for us; it's about us being one with Him and loving and appreciating that He has chosen to make us His so that we're on our way to being "one" with Him as Yeshua was when He said, "Joy I leave with you. Not as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled, and don't let it be afraid....I have overcome the world... by faith!"  That's worth a heap of thanks giving, wouldn't you say?