The Weekly Update page is extracted from a weekly e-mail sent out by
Assistant Pastor Donna Pollock
Thanksgiving approaches, but do I have a grateful heart overflowing with thanks? It seems much easier to give thanks when circumstances are going our way. You know–when the traffic light is green, when an unexpected refund shows up in the mail, when there’s a $5 bill blowing around at your feet. Opportunities and blessings arrive in many sizes. When snow starts falling—seems early!—my thoughts turn to skiing, but where’s the reloadable I. D. card I’m supposed to use? Nowhere to be found. Not until the weather turned cold and I fished out my ski gloves and felt something inside the special zippered pocket. Yup, there it was! Thank you, Lord, because I had no idea what had happened to the badge.
Is it possible that God cares so much for us, that he choreographs even the tiniest moments and movements or our lives for our benefit!? Could God really care so much as all that? Before you shake your head in disavowal or incredulity, remember that Jesus told us God numbers even the hairs on our heads. God knows when a sparrow falls. He also knows the names of each and every star scattered throughout the cosmos. And they aren’t just numbers to him! If the Lord can count hairs and name stars, just imagine what else God can do. Think what else God can do when it matters even more (at least to us).
If God rejoices with the desperate woman who loses, then locates a portion of her rent money, if he urges on the shepherd who leaves the fold to search for a single stray, if he welcomes home the wayward son, why can’t God make a pass at me? We think “lost.” God knows “found.” I hope I can be found giving thanks not only for the major blessings, but for the delicate, often overlooked blessings that hide in the cracks. I hope I am grateful not just when the wind is at my back, but when it’s whipping wet snow and sleet pellets at my face like a volley of words from a carnival barker. When everything seems to be going wrong, I hope I can still praise God and say, “Thank-you for all your blessings. There be a good lesson that you want me to learn.” Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you.
Pastor Jeff