Considering the enormous amount of things I have to be thankful for and taking into consideration the enormity of my blessings I can not fathom why I still have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. I have everything to look forward to and yet I get upset at the slightest provocation and can in an instant forget all my blessings and go back to the old ways of self love and sin. In an effort to keep myself from hearkening back to the old ways of self indulgence I'll try to make this post longer and move involved then previous posts.
So Sunday was a very interesting day, I've ceased to say whether days are good or bad because I can not trust my feelings to tell me whether it was good or bad because my feelings are often misguided and I can not trust the circumstances to tell me if it was good or bad because circumstances do not prove the morality of an action. Needless to say Sunday was an interesting day and it prompted me to include in this post my gratitude for the Sabbath. Historically the sabbath whether it was a Saturday or Sunday was a day of celebration and rejoicing. In ancient Jewish culture the sabbath was a time to rejoice in all that God had done for His people. In the early church you were allowed only to pray/worship standing up with your arms upraised on the Sabbath because it was day for rejoicing and not for repentance. You were supposed to be right with God before the Sabbath because on the Sabbath was the day set aside to praising God not sadness or regret. Today our sabbath has become something of a drudgery, we're glad for the day off from school and the time we can spend with friends at church but its almost like the glory of Sunday is darkened by the knowledge that we have to go to school the next day. I'm thankful for the historical view of the Sabbath and this view is one I'm trying to implant into myself. Sunday is not meant to be a drudgery or merely another day of the weekend, rather it is a time to rejoice together with the brothers and sisters of the faith, to rejoice in the remembrance of what God has done for us. Everything from Creation to the Exodus to the Resurrection and all subsequent divine acts of God that are worthy of praise. We must make Sunday a day of remembrance and empowerment not merely a day to cram all your homework into that you didn't do on Saturday. The day is holy and has the potential to be so much more then we let it.
Remembering the great acts of God brought me my second thing I'm thankful for. Some of you know this whole story, others have heard it in part and to some of you this will be entirely new. Know that it was divine grace that allowed this story to happen not luck or the good fortune of my parents.
For many years my family has been the recipient of thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of food. Stage 1. Over a decade ago my family approached the owners of a local Dunkin Donuts after noticing that every night the person who closed simply threw away all the leftover donuts and bagels. The manager agreed to allow my family to pick up all the leftover food from the weekends at no cost if we came at ten thirty every Saturday and packed it all up ourselves. For I think eight years my family got these donuts every weekend and what we didn't keep we brought to church the next day so the rest of the body could benefit from Gods blessing.
Stage 2. During that eight year period my father was in and out of work relatively frequently for two or two and half years. During those years we drove to the Farmers Market (a massive warehouse where all the veggies from around the world are dropped off and local grocery stores come and pick up their fruits and vegetables) At the farmers market their is a place where they sell bad or rotting produce for really inexpensive, really inexpensive meaning 1$ or 2$ for a massive crate of oranges or apples. The so called "rotten" produce normally had maybe one or two bad products in each box so we were able to get enough fruits and veggies at really low prices enough to feed my whole family. Sometimes we were lucky and got good stuff like melons and apples but other times they had more exotic things. Sometimes dad would come home with four crates of Radishes which required much more creativity to enjoy.
Stage 3. I saved the best for last because I didn't want to end on something boring. Now the Dunkin Donuts deal stopped about two years ago because the owner of the branch changed and a few other variables came into existence that made the free donuts not worth pursuing. The Farmers Market cheap produce section closed down and were not sure why but God who knew the needs of my large family decided to give us something else. Using the same tactics that we used for Dunkin Donuts we talked to the owners of a local Panera Bread and they agreed to let us come every Friday and Saturday night after the store closed and take all the leftover bread and pastries, this usually numbers three or four boxes. If you've been to Panera you know how expensive it is and its the finest quality bread you can get. So every week God gives us more bread then my family could possibly eat, enough that we can bring hundreds of dollars worth of bread to church every week. This deal with Panera is still going on and all you who go to my church can agree that it is awesome.
So I think that qualifies as three days of thankfulness. I hope that reading helped you all think of those special things God did for you which you can be thankful for.
No comments:
Post a Comment