Friday, November 29, 2013

A Thankful Heart Leads to Kindness

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So it’s Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.  I am hanging out down by the beach with my family.  It’s raining this morning and we decided that we would make a journey down the street to the Longboarder Café.  It’s a newer place with surf videos on the T.V.’s and great food.   I really like the atmosphere. 

We were half drenched with smiles on our faces, laughing, and just enjoying one another as we sloshed our way into the cafe.  We splurged and let the kids get hot chocolates and French toast.  The coffee was nice and hot and the picture of my family before me warmed my soul.  I was feeling particularly blessed and overflowing with thankfulness to God for my family.

Just about this time, three young Marines walked in the door.  I must be getting old because these Marines looked like little kids to me.  They weren’t in uniform, but Marines are easy to spot.  These three seemed a more polite and a dressed a little more respectfully than your typical 18-22 year old male.  As I was observing them, I suddenly had a flood of memories of being a young kid in the military being away from my home where friends and family are.  These times of loneliness are hard to explain, but those who have been there, know exactly what I'm saying.  I know these three guys are buddies and will be for life, but there is something about these holiday weekends that makes you yearn for home.

This morning I was reminded of the sacrifice many young men and women are making today around the world as they celebrate Thanksgiving alone.  I don’t have access to all of them, but I had these three right in front of me.   As they sat down, I looked towards my wife and said, “I think we should pay for their breakfast.”  She agreed.  As the waiter came and took our order, I told him that I would like to pay the bill for the three men across the way.  He looked a little surprised and said, “Really?”  I nodded and he walked away thinking that was really cool.

When we finished eating the waiter came with our tab and double-checked that we still wanted to pay their bill.  He then asked if I wanted to send them a message.  I said, “Just tell them we are thankful for their service.”  I was trying to figure the tip when all three of the Marines walked up to our table, looked me in the eye, shook my hand, and said, “Thank you.  That’s really cool.  It means a lot.”  I just thanked them and held back all my Navy banter.

Walking home my oldest daughter asked me why the guys came up to us.  I shared with her how the Bible says it’s better to give than to receive.  We talked about how these young guys were away from the family for Thanksgiving because they are protecting us.  I shared with her that God had blessed us and we were thankful for their service so we bought their breakfast to express our gratitude.  She thought that was really cool.

I encourage you to look for opportunities that you can express a random act of kindness.  You think you are blessing the other person, but I guarantee you will walk away super blessed!

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Thankfulness Doesn't Come Easy

To be quite honest, I’ve always been a “the glass is half empty” kind of guy.  I don’t like this bent of mine, but because of this hard wiring I notice those thankful types of people.  I’ll never forget one man I met while going through Navy SEAL training.  We were a few days into the miserable rigors of Hellweek (a grueling test over 5 ½ days where only 4 cumulative hours of sleep are given) and he always had a smile on his face and was thankful every minute during this miserable week.  I never asked him why he was so thankful, but his joyful attitude was noticed by all and very contagious.

The older I grow, the more I appreciate Thanksgiving.  As a Christian, I believe this holiday celebrates a virtue followers of Christ are to embody—thankfulness! In First Thessalonians 5:16-18, the Apostle Paul instructs Christians to, “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  How do these verses become reality in a person’s life?  I think perspective is everything as it relates to thankfulness.

God desires you to be joyful and to give thanks!  In thinking about this it seems that thankfulness is the antidote to discouragement and ultimately produces joy in a person’s life.  There’s an old hymn titled Count Your Blessings.  The refrain instructs the hearer to, “Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your blessings, see what God hath done!”  There is great power in simply naming things one is thankful for because it forces the individual to back up and take the larger picture into perspective. 

Whenever a wave of discouragement comes in my family, we play the “Thankful Game” with each other.  What is this game?  I’m glad you asked.  We simply work our way through the alphabet giving thanks for something that starts with each letter. For example, I would say, “A – I am thankful for my wife Anna.  B – I am thankful for the Bible.  C – I am thankful for chocolate covered doughnuts at Petersons, etc, etc.”  I know it sounds silly, but it never ceases to amaze me how much better we feel after intentionally giving thanks for the many ways in which God has blessed us.  

God has blessed us each tremendously whether we acknowledge it or not.  My prayer is that we each would cultivate a spirit of thankfulness in our hearts.  I’m convinced that as we express our thankfulness our joy will increase.  Ultimately God is pleased with our spirit of thankfulness and others are blessed.  Albert Barnes, a theologian from the 1800’s, once said, “We can always find something to be thankful for, and there may be reasons why we ought to be thankful for even those dispensations which appear dark and frowning.”  Regardless of your present situation, what are your thankful for today?