Blog

• Thanksgiving

“A nail is driven out by another nail; habit is overcome by habit.” Erasmus said that, contemporary and admirer of Martin Luther. When I read this thought, I am surprised because I had never known and I am sad for all that would have changed if only I had.

I look down at the pen, this pen I keep wielding, one writing her way all the way to one thousand. This pen: this is nothing less than the driving of nails.  Nails driving out my habits of discontent and driving in my habit of eucharisteo (means thanksgiving with its root word meaning grace). I’m hammering in nails to pound out nails, ugly nails that Satan has pierced through the world, my heart. It starts to unfold, light in the dark, a door opening up, how all these years it’s been utterly pointless to try to wrench out the spikes of discontent. Because that habit of discontent can only be driven out by hammering in one sharper. The sleek pin of gratitude.

One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp, pg. 49-50

• Thanksgiving

Today, my mom is having the family do an exercise together that we participated in at the first IRSM Destination Retreat. I invite you to join with us today as well.

It is also a great segue as we near the month of December since the blog theme for that month will be Hope and Love.

Have one person read Psalm 136 aloud and have everyone else join together to repeat, “His love endures forever.”

We are now going to create our own version of Psalm 136.

Rotating around the circle, have each person express a statement of what God has done in his/her life. After each statement, the group will respond as one voice, “His love endures forever.” Feel free to do this as many times as you would like!

What if we had listed statements of current challenges in our lives? Does that change our response of “His love endures forever?”

Feel free to repeat this activity on your own, extending your own version of Psalm 136.

The answer always remains the same: “His love endures forever.”