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Thankful for family
Thanksgiving day is always a special time to spend as a family. A good portion of my family will be able to share in this holiday together tomorrow.
I know that many have not had the same blessing that I have had of a family that supports and loves each other. We are far from perfect. But we strive to share in the loving support that is best found in the context of family.
I give thanks to God for my family—my parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers-in-law, nephew, niece, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. And I give thanks to God for my family in Christ that spans the world.
As Philip Yancey and Henri Nouwen put it…
“Family is the one human institution we have no choice over. We get in simply by being born, and as a result we are involuntarily thrown together with a menagerie of strange and unlike people. Church calls for another step: to voluntarily choose to band together with a strange menagerie because of a common bond in Jesus Christ. I have found that such a community more resembles a family than any other human institution. Henri Nouwen once defined a community as “a place where the person you least want to live with always lives.” His definition applies equally to the group that gathers each Thanksgiving and the group that congregates each Sunday morning. (p. 64-65, Church: Why Bother?)”
― Philip Yancey, Church: Why Bother?: My Personal Pilgrimage
Thanks first, in prayer
I want. I need. I wish. I hope. I. I. I.
We may think we know what’s best. We make our petitions known and in crying out to God, it is easy to become more consumed with our needs than our blessings. By focusing on what we lack instead of what we have, our perspective is skewed.
Paul spelled out the necessary balance when we present our requests to God in Philippians 4:6.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, WITH THANKSGIVING, present your requests to God.
What happens when I start my prayers with thanksgiving?
- Blessings outweigh needs.
- Focus changes.
- Perspective is clarified.
- God’s faithfulness endures.
- Trust in God is restored.
