Overflowing with gratitude

        So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." (Col.2:6-7)
        "...and overflowing with gratitude."  A simple thought for Thanksgiving today, but does "overflowing with gratitude" characterize my life?  How about yours?  Is gratitude our default attitude in life...or is it cynicism...complaining...chronic discontentment...caustic entitlement? 
          I can tell you, when I start to feel entitled, my gratitude disappears and along with it, any semblance of joy.  Or when I start focusing on whatever it is that I want but lack, well then, here comes grumbling, discontentment, and discouragement.
         Yet all around me, the world dances with God's abounding goodness, His extravagant love,  His staggering abundance, His astounding grace.
         Just the other day, I gazed out the window and saw a sight worthy of the National Gallery of Art--

         Right outside our front door!  Look at those brilliant colors, those varied leaves dancing in the breeze...all absolutely free. Available night and day to be seen and appreciated and savored!  Yet day after day, I'd zoom past in my car with nary a glance.  But I should have been filled with awe and awash with gratitude that an Almighty Lord grew those trees, colored those leaves, gave me eyes to see them, ears to hear their rustling, and a heart to know and love their glorious Creator! 
         "It is always possible to be thankful for that is given rather than to complain about what is not given. One of the other becomes a habit of life...Accept, positively and actively, what is given to you. Let thanksgiving be the habit of your life." (Elisabeth Elliott)
         "Overflowing with thankfulness" occurs when we "let thanksgiving be the habit" of our lives. And habit means we consciously choose to cultivate it day after day after day. 
          Thank You Lord for this day...for this breath...for my family near and far...for that mug of hot tea this morning...for the gigantic stick Bingley carried on our walk today... for a text from a dear friend...for being able to text another dear friend who is halfway across the world...for prayer...for autumn and pilgrims and Thanksgiving and pumpkins...for a warm bed at night...for chocolate cake...for my parents in heaven...for the cardinal at our bird feeder...for a new grandbaby...for Thanksgiving and Christmas hymns and songs... 
            Ann Voskamp says, "Joy is a function of gratitude, and gratitude is a function of perspective."  We don't so much as need a change in our circumstances as we need a change in our perspective--and that means looking for, noticing, and being grateful for the blessings God showers all around us and over us. Maybe even just outside our front door! 
            Today, and everyday, let's choose gratitude.  Because we have a great God who is a relentless Giver of all good gifts. And that Almighty Lord and Creator knows us each by name. Amazing.  If that doesn't make you grateful, I don't know what will!
            Father, give us eyes to see, hearts to savor, and mouths to thank You.  Make us relentlessly grateful. Might we be people who overflow with gratitude. To God be the glory.

We become what we behold

        William Blake first said it: "We become what we behold."
        Here's how Paul expressed it in 2 Cor.3:18, "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."
        So what are you beholding? 
        I've been asking myself this question.  In our distracted, busy, technology-obsessed world, what am I beholding on a daily, consistent basis?  Upon what is my gaze directed?  Yeah, sure we all tend to glance at all kinds of things, but the question boils down to our steady gaze as opposed to our passing glances. What's the focus on our meditations?  When our minds wander, where do they tend to settle?
       Do we tend to default to fretting...worrying...controlling...complaining...envying...striving?  Then guess what?  We're clearly not daily, consistently beholding the beauty, the grace, the forgiveness, the power, the creativity, the joy, the wisdom, the love, the glory of our Savior.  Because we become what we become, and He is not, not, not the Author, Sustainer, or Reflector of fear, anxiety, manipulation, jealousy, discontentment. 
       But we have the choice. Praise God, we have been given us the gift of choosing where we will focus our gaze. We can choose what and who we behold on a consistent basis.
       Thank You, Lord, for giving us minds and hearts that can choose to behold and dwell upon your perfect Word, your astounding creation, and You yourself...You who are perfect, infinite, eternal, beautiful, gracious, winsome, almighty, compassionate, omniscient, faithful, forgiving, omnipotent, loving and on and on.
        What we behold will, quite literally, change the course of our lives--both our ultimate course but also our daily, life-in-the-trenches course.  One is a path of grumbling and discouragement. The other a path of of gratitude and joy. One is a path of endless and self-focused striving. The other a path of daily renewal in You and Your Word.
        Ruth Chou Simons says, "We've been given so much to look at, but we are missing the art of beholding. We are so captivated by our technology and all that it puts before our eyes that we overlook the ways that God displays His glory through creation, relationships, and our ordinary circumstances in the day to day. We look for dramatic ways to experience God, but His presence and transforming work in our lives happen minute by minute." 
       But to experience true, beautiful, life-giving, joy-infusing transformation, we must look daily, intently, consistently at who Jesus is.  We see Him most clearly in His Word.  But we also see Him reflected in the beauty of His creation, in His people, and yes, even in our daily circumstances when we open wide our eyes of faith.
        Lift your gaze from your cell phone and instead gaze at the Savior.  Instead of worrying, start worshipping.  Rather than fretting over your lack of time to get everything done, choose to be fueled and fed by the Ancient of Days who has no beginning and no end and who never, ever runs out of anything.  Stop lamenting what you lack and instead start rejoicing at all--gloriously all--you possess in Him, through Him, and from Him.  He is enough...and He's given us so astoundingly, extravagantly, undeservedly much!
        When we choose to behold Jesus on a daily basis, we move from a scarcity mentality to an abundance mentality.  From despair to hope.  From ugly selfishness to beautiful self-forgetfulness.  From restlessness to rest. And from grumbling and discontentment to gratitude and contentment. 
        So today, who or what will you behold?  Where will you fix your gaze?  Keep returning that glance again and again to gaze at the Savior! 
      Oh might we daily, moment by moment, choose Jesus. 
       To God be the glory.

Thankfulness in the small

         "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." (Col.3:17)
        That little phrase keeps floating around in my brain--"whatever you do."  Whatever you do--whether running errands, cleaning the bathroom, walking your dog, changing your child's diaper, caring for that aging loved one, folding the laundry, returning that phone call, raking the leaves--whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God..." 
        What unwelcome tasks, what odious chores, what repetitive, mundane, or annoying jobs are we excluding from God's "everything?"  Are we doing our every deed and speaking our every word to the glory of the Lord Jesus?  And are we choosing to do and to speak continually with thanks? 
        How about when the fellow in front of you at the stoplight pauses too long when it turns green (because, duh, he's looking at his phone)...so you miss the light...and now you're late?  Are you still choosing thankfulness that you have a car, that you can drive, that Christ is with you in that car, that you have places to go, that you are surrounded by brilliant scarlet-colored trees? 
        How about when the answer to your prayer seems to be "no" or at least "not yet"--do you thank the Lord that He hears and that His wisdom is infinitely greater than yours? 
        How about when you're just dog-gone tired, and you still have to get up and go through the whole, daily drill yet again--wake up the children, get them dressed, fed, ready for school and on and on--is thankfulness ruling in your heart or is there a spirit of complaining and discouragement taking root?
        I don't know about you, but I don't see any exception clauses in those words from God's Word.  Do and speak everything in the name of Jesus.  Give thanks to God in everything through Jesus.  Thankful in the big and the small. Thankful in the hard and the easy.  Thankful in the ordinary and the extraordinary.  Thankful in the rain and the sun. 
        Because here's the thing--thankfulness is a choice.  A daily choice.  An hourly choice.  A moment by moment choice to take what the Lord's has given and allowed and to choose to trust Him, acknowledge Him, and thank Him.  We have to choose to give thanks.  It's not about a la la feeling of thankfulness but an act of the will to choose to give it, no matter our temporary, ever-vacillating emotions.  No wonder it's called thanks-giving not thanks-feeling. 
        But here's the remarkable part--when we make the choice to give thanks and be grateful, the feelings often will come and contentment and joy will arise in our hearts.  And it begins by choosing gratitude even in the small, seemingly insignificant things of life. 
         I love how Mary Mohler puts it--
        "Being grateful for the small things is a great entry into turning our thoughts around and focusing them on the Lord. If we have a mindset of gratitude even while carrying out the routine tasks of our day, we will find we have fewer thoughts of complaint and self-focus."
         So in this season of thanksgiving, here's a little challenge for each of us--choose to give thanks in the small tasks and routine chores of your life.  Today, every day over the course of November, how about we make a conscious effort to thank Him --out loud--in those small things?  Maybe even write down each day at least one routine chore or task for which you're thankful to your Heavenly Father.  Who knows how He will use it--but know this for sure: you are obeying His Word and bringing glory to God.  Even in the small...maybe even especially in the small.  For He is in it all--thank You Lord!
          To God be the glory.