Let me admit right up front, I am a sugar coated pessimist. I try not to be, but that’s what I am. What is a sugar coated pessimist, you may ask? On the outside I am all sweet and fluffy, but when you dig deeper, the roots of the lemon sucker come out. Have you ever seen someone suck on a lemon? There lips do these weird contortionary moves. While I’m not as bad as some so called Christians who go through life sucking on lemons, (I fight the urge) I have a tendency to drift that way.
Have you ever met one of these “Christians”? “I’m a Christian,” they snarl. “What are you gonna do about it?”
Honestly, they make the grace of God seem like hard work.
With all that said, let me get to the purpose of this blog.
We are betwixt the demons and elves. It’s time to put away the witch’s hat and goblins and pull out the stockings and tinsel; Halloween and Christmas.
In the in-between time we gorge ourselves on turkey and watch grown men toss a ball around a field. (Oh. My poor Patriots)
I am one of those people who believes Thanksgiving is being nudged off the table by a bigger turkey and chocolate chip cookies. Not only is this special day over shadowed by other holidays (kind of crushed in between them), the very meaning of the holiday is ignored even on the actual day itself.
A quick word of grace and it’s on to the drumstick!
Before the day passes like a flash of lightening across the sky, I’d like to give a couple of thoughts about Thanksgiving-
1. Out of the major holidays of this season, Thanksgiving is the only one that is about attitude.
—Halloween is about candy! Pure and simple. Greed for chocolate! There’s nothing wrong with that. I can remember the days when me and my friends would not come home until our pillow cases were full. We’d map out a route of the neighborhood; stressing maximum candy getting in the minimum amount of time. I’d keep my stash under my bed, doling it out. Making it last until the Christmas goodies came in.
—Christmas is about greed. Who will get what? How many lights can I fit on a tree? Will I have better decorations than my neighbor?
… I told you I was a pessimist on the inside. My attitude on Christmas should prove the point. Okay, okay. I know what Christmas is supposed to be about. I simply doubt that most people in the good old U. S. of A celebrate the birth of the savior of the world! Christmas is a wonderful holiday that is being highjacked from it’s original purpose. But I digress.
—Thanksgiving is supposed to be about thankfulness to God! Remembering all He has given us. An attitude of thankfulness. In my opinion, it is one of the most biblical holidays.
2. The Bible reminds us to be thankful. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
That’s because most people need to be reminded. Thankfulness does not come naturally. Nowhere in the Bible does it say, “Remember to breath,” because for the most part no one forgets to breath (Though that does remind me of a funny blond joke…but we won’t go there.)
On the other hand, giving thanks to God is something we have to be nudged into doing. Maybe we all have a tendency to be lemon suckers.
I find myself constantly striving to be thankful; remembering all the blessings God has given to me. Being thankful is a wonderful habit that can actually defeat lemon sucking! It’s good to remember Who we came from and how much He’s given to us.
How about if you join me? Avoid the holiday rush. Begin and end each day with a special prayer of thanksgiving. Tell God what you are thankful for.
With that in mind, you can help me out. I’m stuck on x, y, and z. You wonder what in the world I am talking about.
There’s a prayer exercise that I do. I’ll run through the ABC’s of thankfulness. In other words, I go through the alphabet, each letter standing for something I’m thankful for, or simply praise God for.
i.e.-“Lord, I am thankful for…your AWESOME love. I am thankful for my daily BREAD.”
Why don’t you give it a try?
Maybe you can help me out. I get stuck on X Y Z. Many times I have to be creative with x’s. “I’m thankful for your eXtra good care. As for z’s, I need more than Zebras and Zitherphones.
Before the big day comes (Thanksgiving), try running through your own ABC’s thankfulness. And if you get a chance, send me a comment, giving me some creative ideas for XYZ.
Remember. Don’t go sucking on the lemons of life. It’ll make you awfully sour.
I agree! This reminds me of 2 prayer acronyms that I sometimes use: ACTS- Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication & PRAISE- Praise, Repentance, Adoration, Intercession, Supplication, and Eternal Results. I like how both start with praise and this shifts the focus of prayer from a laundry list of needs towards a time of thanksgiving.
eXtreme sacrifice on the cross, your Young wife, Zest for life
I’m somewhat BITTER (ha,ha) about this post because I am a card-carrying, t-shirt wearing, member of the lemon sucking Christians club. Not only do I have pessimistic comments to say on the regular, I’ve sometimes been known to give sarcastic comments instead of evangelizing. To give you an example, last week, my daughter came home from school and told me she’d been made fun of by an Islamic-following kid who rides on her school bus. I said, “Oh yeah, when you get on the bus tomorrow, tell him it sucks to be him because he has no real God!” Bad! Bad! Bad! I know. Recently, I’ve prayed for the Lord to show me how to be more graceful, loving, and thankful. And there is no better time of year to show this than Thanksgiving. Great post!