Happy Unthankful Day

What a cynical thought.  That you would actually have a day when you could be unthankful and ungrateful and just plain scrooge like is an interesting prospect.  Bear with me and I tell you where this is coming from.  I love autumn.  I love the cooler temperatures, the amazing colors and just about everything you can make from apples.  I love what the holidays represent but the end product in my house doesn’t always fit the Norman Rockwell portrait.  It starts with Thanksgiving plans, who’s coming to dinner, what will be on the menu and then finally coming together as a family to celebrate the many blessings we have shared throughout the year.

 When our children became old enough to truly understand the purpose of Thanksgiving we began a tradition.  Before the meal blessing was said each person would share something they were thankful for.  The first years were actually pleasant and downright cute.  Things like, “I’m thankful you don’t make me eat that nasty okra stuff if I don’t want to,” or “I’m thankful for the puppy we’ll be getting at Christmas.”  (Which by the way, never happened.)  But as the children got older, gotta love those teenage years, things started to take a turn south.  “I’m thankful for the memories I have when I was an only child, “and “I’m thankful that we only have to do this once a year,” started to tarnish the whole purpose of this tradition.  The last few years have been quite disappointing.  You would have thought that I was asking them to have a root canal without anesthesia.  The thought that coming up with one thing to be thankful for is a painstaking chore really makes me unthankful and annoyed.  So this year I thought maybe we would try something different.  Instead of asking everyone what they are thankful for, they were told to do complete the following before dinner was served:

 I truly wish you could have seen the looks on the faces of my family when they were told to be unthankful.  I explained to them that since over the years it has become such a pain for them to express their thankfulness I thought it only fair that they get to share their attitudes of ingratitude.  My goal was not to try and make them feel guilty but to help them understand that Thanksgiving really should be reversed.  We shouldn’t have one day when we give thanks and maybe if we thought of having one day where we can get all our unthankful, cranky, self-pitying thoughts out on the table we would truly live thankful lives.  That we could be honest with God who tells us to be anxious for nothing but through prayer and supplication, WITH THANKSGIVING, make our requests known,  we could be thankful even in the worst of times.  That we could as Paul suggested to the Thessalonians give thanks in everything because this is God’s will for us.  In closing, each person got to share just one thing from their list that they were unthankful for.  I then suggested that other things on their lists were things they needed talk over with God and ask Him what if anything they could do to change the matter.  If things could not be changed they needed trust Him that He had things under control.  Then with what I believed were truly thankful hearts my nephew asked for God’s blessings on the meal and we all ate a hearty meal.

 I know that I cannot make someone be thankful; it truly is a matter of the heart.  But I do have a responsibility to let my family members as well as others know where true thankfulness comes from.  That if Jesus who at the last supper, knowing full well what was about to happen to Him, lifted up the Passover bread towards heaven and gave thanks to the Father, surely I can come up with one thing to give thanks.  My prayer is especially for my loved ones and friends this holiday season that are facing difficult circumstances and trials to know that you too can give thanks to the Lord BECAUSE HE IS GOOD AND HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER!  That alone is truly something to be thankful for.  Hope you all had a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Submitted by Richele Walker, Director of Zone56

Hearing and Obeying

Do you feel like God talks to you a lot, or do you wish He would talk to you more?

For me, God speaks to me alright….and a lot of the time I say “ok…no problem…I’ll do that when I can fit it into my schedule”…..or sometimes I say….”are you sure?”  Then I have the opportunity to sit on the thought for a while just to make sure he really meant what he said.  Very rarely, does God speak to me and tell me to do something and I just jump up and do it……because well, I have to think about it.  I am sure He doesn’t love that about me, but what He does know, is that I WILL eventually DO IT.

 He loves to tell me to do something, and then the next day I’ll be praying and saying “Lord….speak to me, tell me something today”, and he will say, “well, if you will do what I told you to do yesterday, then I’ll give you something else to do,” to which I say, “oh right, that IS on my to do list.” 

 I know that God can speak to us through a variety of ways…..through biblical teaching or bible study,  through other people,  and on the run, but the lesson he had for me this summer was one that he kept saying to me over and over and over again.  I think he wanted me to really hear him, and DO IT.  It’s the DOING IT that is not always the easy part right?

The constant and main themes, for the summer were to Be Still  and Know that I am God.….to relax in Him, to Rest in Him, to stop striving, to trust Him…over and over again.  I learned that there are some spiritual disciplines that well, shall we say, I did not excel in, such as Silence, Solitude, Stillness, Prayer and Worship.  I learned that you can really hear God so clearly when you practice these disciplines, and when I did  practice that, it changed me  from a whirlwind person to a calm and peaceful person. Sometimes I am quite surprised at the “new Pat”.

God pointed out to me that if I wanted to have an intimate relationship with him, then I needed to spend more than a few minutes a day with him.   God wants a relationship with me above what I do for Him in ministry.  I learned that I don’t have to carry the burden of the ministry on my shoulders, His shoulders are much bigger than mine.

So, the real test to see if I have learned a lesson is AM I DOING IT?    Am I practicing the “Quiet” disciplines? 

The answer is YES….most of the time.  Just recently, I started slipping up  and trying to have “fast time with God” again, because I had a lot to do……and sure enough, “Old Pat” started showing up again……  I immediately recognized her, and thought “OH NO!!!”…… 

Ps 38:4 says “O taste and see that the Lord is Good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him”

This is where I want to be…..so I am learning that when “Old Pat” shows up, it’s time to put myself in TIME OUT.  TIME OUT of the demands of life, and TIME IN with God.

Ps 23:2,3 “He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the STILL waters…HE RESTORES my SOUL.   

EVERYTHING HAS ITS SEASON

Tomorrow 2 a-days start.  For those of you who have not had the privilege of participating or either having children who have participated, 2 a -days are days when you have two sessions of football practice.  It may not mean much to you but in my house it is the official beginning of the end of summer.   Along with the two-time sessions come and 20% increase in the grocery bill, the washer and dryer get an extreme workout and Gatorade becomes a staple.  But this year 2 a-days in particular have a different meaning for me.  You see this year will be my next to last high school football season.  After 16 years in elementary school, 7 years in middle school and 13 years in high school as parents—(that’s what it adds up to when you have 4 children and there is 10 years between the oldest and youngest) my husband and I will be embarking on a new season not just in football but in life.   A few years ago when we had 1 in elementary, 1 in middle school, 1 in high school and 1 in college  a light at the end of the tunnel was nowhere in sight.  Now the light is beginning to flicker and I’m wondering what’s on the other end of the tunnel.

I have dreamed of the day of the last football game when I would no longer have to sit on those cold bleachers making sure I cheered just the right amount without being embarrassing.   No more running to the school on the way to work to drop off a jersey or cleats that someone forgot to put in their backpack the night before.  Now that the time is winding down the dream is starting to look a little different.   I’m actually starting to sound like my mother, “You better enjoy those days, and they’ll be gone before you know it.”  Could I really miss those days?  Well instead of dreading the end I have chosen to embrace the now.  I am praying, literally, that this year and the next will be our best years yet.  Yes, it would be nice to have a winning season, but that’s not what I’m talking about.  I want the Walker household to truly enjoy our last years in high school together.

I never understood why my mother’s favorite Bible passage was Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, but I sure get it now.    There is a season for everything and this year as another football season comes around it is my prayer that it would be one that is truly joyful. 

I don’t know what marks the end of summer for you, but whatever it is take the time to enjoy these restful days, make memories and enjoy the season that lies ahead.

Rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer.  Romans 12:12

Richele Walker , Director of Zone56