Tag: Thanksgiving

Morning Musing: Proverbs 18:22

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“A man who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”
— ‭‭(CSB – Read the chapter)

My bride and I have been watching a show lately about living in Alaska. It came out several years ago when shows featuring all things Alaskan were so popular. This one chronicles the lives and lifestyles of a collection of people who live near or north of the Arctic Circle. At least two of the ones who get the most attention are single. One is a woman who lives entirely on her own. The other is a guy who lives with only his dogsledding dogs. From the editing, they pretty much do everything for and by themselves. Watching it is a good reminder of another thing I’m thankful on this Thanksgiving day. Today I am thankful for not doing life alone.

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Morning Musing: Matthew 8:26

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“He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Our weather yesterday was gross most of the day. Today’s not promising to be much better. It wasn’t particularly cold, which was nice, but it was rainy and windy and overcast all day. Then, yesterday afternoon it got foggy out of nowhere. It was the kind of thick pea soup fog you usually only see in the morning except it was at 3:00 in the afternoon. Driving toward on particular intersection, I couldn’t see the traffic signal until I was almost through the intersection itself. It reminded me of another thing in thankful for. Today I’m thankful for not being able to see tragic signals.

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Morning Musing: Acts 2:46

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“Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts…” (CSB – Read the chapter)

It’s that time of year again. We are now fully into Thanksgiving week. My guess is that you are already planning your third or fourth trip to the grocery store. You’ve spent most of one paycheck on just the necessities and are working on a second. You’re busy, harried, and tried. And you’re doing all of that for the chance to sit and enjoy some time with family you might want to see…or maybe not. But you do it because tradition – not to mention nostalgia – demands it. Yet lost in the hustle and bustle of this week is often what the day is supposed to be about. Wise leaders of the past called on the country and even established this particular day as one to be set aside for giving our attention to matters of gratitude. That gratitude was specifically intended to be directed toward God, and it will perhaps come as no surprise that I think that’s the best direction for it, but gratitude of any kind is good for the soul. So, this week, instead of our regularly scheduled programming, we’re going to take a bit of time each day to do just that. And today, to get us started, I’m thankful for a noisy room.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 15:17-21

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“You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your possession; Lord, you have prepared the place for your dwelling; Lord, your hands have established the sanctuary. The Lord will reign forever and ever! When Pharaoh’s horses with his chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought water of the sea back over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. Then the prophetess Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women came out following her with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them: Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted; he has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the clearest indicators that God was the ultimate author of all the Scriptures via the inspiration of His Holy Spirit is the sheer number of times and places where one part makes reference to another part. Backward-looking references are certainly easy to explain. The later authors simply had to be familiar (very familiar sometimes) with the earlier documents. Forward-looking references (prophecy), though, are harder to understand apart from two things: God’s inspiration, or a much later authorship of some parts of it than we think. In this final part of Moses’ song of praise (whose exact ending point in the text isn’t totally clear), we see an example of this. Let’s talk about this last stanza, what follows, and what we can learn from this whole thing.

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Morning Musing: Luke 17:15-16

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“But one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God. He fell facedown at his feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

If you are like most people, today finds you looking ahead. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is coming. Tomorrow is coming, and you can prepare for it today by shopping in store or online so you can get the best deals you can possibly get. Because you’re probably ready to hit the road, I’ll keep this extra short. Here’s your prompt: Don’t lose sight of yesterday. Yesterday happened because someone put a lot of work into making it happen. Maybe that was you, but I’ll bet at the very least you weren’t alone. Take a minute and think about the two or three people who were most responsible for what you enjoyed yesterday. Once you have those people in mind, here is your challenge for today: Write them a note of thanks. Let them know how much their work to make yesterday possible meant to you. Then, before the day is out, get that note delivered to them. Unexpressed gratitude is generally received as ingratitude. So, don’t fail to express your gratitude for the gift you received yesterday.

Next week, we will begin our Advent teaching series leading up to Christmas (which is in just five short weeks). Starting on Thursday, Lord willing, we’ll turn our attention here to Advent with a series of devotions to get our hearts and minds thinking in that direction. Tuesday and Wednesday will be free days to explore a couple of stray ideas I’ve had lately. Next Friday, we’ll get started on our songs of the season series. I’m looking forward to it and I hope you are too.