Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 18:
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
The kids were out of school this week so I took the opportunity this past weekend to go and pay a visit to a couple of people very special to me, each of which have suffered great heartache this year.
On Saturday, I drove to Ft Worth and had dinner with one of these friends who just lost her husband in a matter of months to a glioblastoma brain tumor. Since I had the kids with me, she graciously met me at Chick Filet and through fits of screaming and telling children, I listened to her tell me about the mercies of the final weeks they had together as a family. "God is good," she said. Then on Sunday, I went to her church and sat as she led the congregation and me in the prayer of thanksgiving. I do not know if I have ever been so moved by a prayer in all my life. Though I don't really remember the words, whether they were eloquent or not, I will always remember that she was there in the pulpit praying and preaching and teaching and embodying thanksgiving in its deepest form.
Then on Monday, I left the kids with a saint at the church and drove down the street to spend time with a friend whose child suffered a terrible accident earlier this year and is now at one of the hospitals in downtown Ft Worth. To enter the holy ground of that hospital room, and to watch a father loving so tenderly on child was a great gift. Yesterday I texted my friend to wish him Happy Thanksgiving. I mentioned today's Daily Lesson where Paul says to "Give thanks in all circumstances." Today my friend will do that, gathering with family and loved ones in the hospital room to celebrate Thanksgiving. It is the small blessings which have revealed themselves in this difficult journey which he and his family will give thanks for. And what I give thanks for is the honor of having entered the holy ground of that hospital room and seen an ever-deepening and special bond of father and child.
It was in November of 1863 that President Lincoln issued his Proclamation of Thanksgiving, calling on all Americans to set and observe the last Thursday as a day of Thanksgiving to the Almighty. America was in the midst of a Civil War which would ultimately take the lives of 700,000. Hundreds of thousands of Americans were already grieving the losses sons on the battlefield. Lincoln himself was in the midst of grief after having lost his 11-year-old son Willie to illness just a year in February of 1862. Yet, the harvest of 1863 was plentiful and though the war among brothers within made the United States susceptible to attack from enemies abroad, there was still peace along America's borders. And for these things he thought it "fit and proper" to be "gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people."
2015 has been difficult year for some; but there are still the blessings of a prosperous nation to be acknowledged and the gift of holy ground to be recognized. As my friend said, "God is good." Indeed.
So, today we give thanks -- in all circumstances. For we are a thankful people.
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