Thursday, November 22, 2007

Joyful Thanksgiving

Forget happy. I know this day can be a huge test in patience for some. I know some who have to (sigh, grumble grumble) spend this day with their family. Helps the rest of us who would like to be home with family not take peaceful homes for granted.

Hey, today, why not pray that God will overfill your cup with grace. So when Uncle So-and-so is picking on you, when Grandma is comparing you with your more successful cousin, when Mom or Dad is doing that passive aggressive thing about why you don't come home more often (when you happen to be home right now! gosh! :-), endure. Endure and respond with love.
Make it your little secret. Inside you will feel like you're winning a secret battle.

Vomit grace all over the table, horn-o'-plenty centerpiece and all. Be Jesus at that table and overturn it with kindness.

Forget happy. Things may be stacked against your being happy.
But Jesus has your heart. And that's cause for real joy.

Hope everyone is well. I realize this isn't the typical Happy Thanksgiving post. But I just know personally some people who struggle with being home today, because home is not happy. So I don't want to be naive about the fact this reality is fairly widespread.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
-- Colossians 3:15

I know I didn't post part 3 in the Formation series yesterday. Holidays and all that. Will resume the series next week.

5 comments:

Eric Guel said...

Thanks for that encouragement. That's a good word. I hope you guys have a great holiday.

Anonymous said...

Holy cow, what a great post.

I'm going to post it on our church Singles site (I'll give you attribution, of course :-)

You rock Jared. Everything you write is good.

Jared said...

Gee, thanks, guys. Love y'all.

Chanda Canup said...

The gritty, unabashed truth. Always a good thing.

salguod said...

"Vomit grace all over the table, horn-o'-plenty centerpiece and all. Be Jesus at that table and overturn it with kindness."

Heh.

(Yeah, I know I'm late to the party.)