Giving Thanks...for Giving

With Thanksgiving this week, of course, along with everyone else, I am thinking more of what I'm thankful for. I could list so many things as I hope you could. However, I decided to focus on one specific thing I'm thankful for (at least for this post), and that is giving itself. Have you ever thought about how much you've been given? Not by earning or even deserving it, but it's just given...for free? (I hope you see where I'm going with this.)

Most often the verb to give is used transitively in a sentence, meaning that the subject (person) gives a direct object (thing). However, this year I'm thankful not as much for the things people have given me but more for the fact that they've actually given. So who are the people in my life that have given to me?

1. First, I have been very blessed to have parents who have given not just money, but love, support, correction, protection, wisdom, and time. I'm extremely grateful that they have given so selflessly and continue to do so.

2. I'm also thankful for the teachers I've had over the years who have given so much of their time and talents to influence my life through education. (I never knew just how selfless some of my teachers were until I became a teacher myself and understood the kind of self-sacrifice that this position demands.)

3. Next, I must express gratefulness for the many friends I have now and have had throughout my life. All of them have given in different ways: through hospitality, time, gifts, notes of encouragement, phone calls, and prayer, to name a few. I'm nearly overwhelmed sometimes by their generosity.

4. Last, but not least, I must thank the Father for giving His Son Jesus Christ, who in turn gave His life in obedience to the Father. God's perfect demonstration of giving, of course, is how each of the other examples I've listed can even have meaning or significance.

So this year I am especially thankful for the act of giving because it ultimately reminds us of the One who has modeled genuine giving by which all our giving is measured, and the subsequent gifts themselves are just an exceeding abundance of His grace.

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!~ 2 Cor. 9:15

Living what I say I believe...

Well, we all have heard how historic yesterday's election was. And I agree it is a great accomplishment, but now we wait and see. There were a lot of promises made for change. I hope people are ready for the changes that really will come; they may find they are not the ones they expected.

So much of this election was decided solely on a person's words. But as I've been reminded of several times recently, saying and doing are two very different things. Actions will reveal a person's true beliefs.

The coming months and even years ahead will give the new President and us an opportunity to demonstrate beliefs through actions. As Believers, what will responses of anxiety, anger, or bitterness reveal about what we say we believe about God's sovereignty? My prayer for myself and all who know Christ is that we will be able to respond instead with a steady trust, not in a man, but in the Sovereign King, not in a party or plan for change, but in the person of Jesus Christ, who ultimately is the only One who can and will bring true change through the transforming power of the Gospel.