The Gift: Thanking those around you.

Do you see a cold cross or the warmest of all gifts?  Got Thanks?

Welcome to day 14 and thank you for logging in today. Today we reflect on thanks and what we have to be thankful for—you know—a count your many blessing sort of day.

It may sound cliché, but it is exactly what we should do.

Today’s exploration revolves around the ten lepers in Luke 17 that cried out to Jesus to have mercy on them. He did. He healed them and told them to go show themselves to the priests. They do.

Somewhere along the way, one of them—a Samaritan—returns to Jesus to thank him.

Jesus asks, “Were not ten healed?”

We should ask, do we number ourselves with the one or the nine?”

With the one, of course! Well, maybe? Or is it with the nine?

How often do we find ourselves thanking God? How often do the moments of the hour, day, year, or life just slip by as ordinary? In C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, one demon mentors another about working on humans. He counsels to just keep reminding them how ordinary life is.

Too many of us have bought the ordinary package and it just isn’t so! Life is far from ordinary. The very fact that we live—we exist—is something that if we could be completely honest with ourselves, we would have to admit that we cannot fully comprehend. To comprehend existence, we must first be able to comprehend non-existence or nothingness. We can truly comprehend neither to any degree of clarity, but we can experience existence. We can live.

You might want to log this in as cliché day, but when was the last time you stopped to smell the roses? Or watch the sun rise? Or watch it set? Or listen to your heart or another’s beat? Or listen to a favorite song and marvel at the voice and music? Or watch a flower bloom? Or a million other things that we take for granted every day?

Is our life so busy that we forget to live?

Is it so busy that we forget to thank the Giver of life?

Let’s try one of the make it count moments for today.

1.       When was the last time that you remember stopping to savor a rich moment? 

2.       What were the circumstances? 

3.       Were you on vacation, with family, at Thanksgiving?

Are you up for another make it count moment?

1.       On most days are you more like the one who returned to the thank Jesus or the nine who did not? 

2.       How often do you thank those around you for what they contribute to your life? 

3.       Who would you thank today if you only had one month to live?

And now, the make it last for life challenges.

1.       Make a list of 5 or 6 things that you often take for granted. Make an effort to enjoy these things more and thank God for them.

2.       Choose one item from this list and truly experience it today. Whatever it is, relish it.

3.       Make a list of the people who contribute to your life but get frequently overlooked. Thank them today.

 

Up for more? Try the day 14 provocations.