We had 3 Thanksgiving celebrations. THREE. That's a whole lot of Turkey! These Thanksgiving celebrations were filled with friends, family, thankfulness, eating, laughter, games, more eating, snuggly babies, football games, and MORE EATING! Needless to say, I'm going to need to hit the gym hard this week.
I was at a holiday boutique last night and as I chatted with friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers, the pleasantries of conversation always made its way to, "how was your Thanksgiving?" To which I jokingly would reply, "Which one?" Then my friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers would look at me in bewilderment as I explained that we had 3 Thanksgiving celebrations. Some reacted with understanding, some with sympathy, but most reacted with the wild-eyed look of anxiety as they thought through what cramming 3 Thanksgivings into a 6 day period would look like. When I saw this look filling their eyes I would quickly say, "I know it's crazy...but it's just what we do."
As I was cleaning the house this morning, I made my way to the kitchen. I was mindlessly loading the dishwasher when I suddenly noticed the entire bottom rack was filled with tupperware. Tupperware from our friends and family. Tupperware that had been filled to the brim with left-overs from our 3 Thanksgivings. Tupperware that came from their home, and was now in ours. I looked at that dishwasher full of tupperware, and I was immediately filled with overwhelming thankfulness and awe. I am in awe of the goodness of God, and all that he has given us. I am thankful for the friends and family that he has surrounded us with. I am thankful for the tupperware in my dishwasher.
If you were someone I talked to last night, I take back what I said in response to our 3 Thanksgivings. I should not have responded with, "I know it's crazy...but it's just what we do." I should have told you how thankful I am to have 3 Thanksgivings! I should have told you about the goodness of God, that he would allow us to have 3 opportunities to express our gratitude to him for all he has done in our lives. I should have told you that it's not crazy...it's an awesome gift from our awesome God.
Lately I haven't been able to stop listening to Matt Redman's song: 10,000 Reasons. I can't get this song out of my head! I find the second the song has ended, I want to play it again. This song encourages and admonishes me to have an attitude of worship, praise, thanksgiving, and humility. For those who aren't familiar, the song opens with these lyrics:
Bless the Lord, O my soul O my soul, worship his holy name.
For all you Sunday school grads (as my dear pastor always says), these lyrics should remind you of a familiar verse from Psalm 103, which begins like this:
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Psalm 103:1
David (the psalmist) is encouraging himself to bless the Lord. Notice he isn't saying "Hey, YOU guys! Bless the Lord!" No, he is instructing his own heart, mind, and soul to bless the Lord. Matt Redman does the same thing in the second verse of his song:
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find...TEN THOUSAND reasons for MY heart to find...As I have been singing and reflecting upon this song and this verse these past few weeks, I have also been contemplating: what can I bless the Lord for? Could I find 10,000 reasons to bless him? The answer is YES! James 1:17 tells us that EVERY good and perfect gift is from God. Therefore, everything good that I have in my life, I can thank and bless God for giving me. With the Thanksgiving season upon us, I can't think of a better time to reflect not only on the good gifts God has given me, but also to bless him for who he is and the attributes he posses. After all, he is the only one worthy of all our attention, devotion, worship, honor, praise, and blessing. I encourage you to count the reasons you have to bless the Lord too! (To hear 10,000 Reasons, scroll to the bottom of this blog.)
100 Reasons I Have to Bless the Lord (In the interest of space, I have only chosen to list 100 reasons)
1) He loved me first
2) He chose me
3) He opened my eyes to my sin
4) He brought me from death to life, giving me salvation through Jesus' payment for my sin on the cross
5) Jesus bore the wrath that was in store for me
6) I have the Holy Spirit: my Counselor, Helper, and seal of my salvation
7) I have the Bible
8) His mercy
9) His grace
10) His patience
11) His holiness
12) His steadfast love
13) His faithfulness
14) His justice
15) He is slow to anger
16) His goodness
17) His kindness
18) His gentleness
19) He never changes
20) He is everlasting
21) His jealousy
22) The joy that comes from being a servant of Jesus Christ
23) His peace
24) I can approach God, with confidence, in prayer because of Christ
25) I will share in Christ's inheritance
26) I am a child of the living God
27) I will spend eternity with God in heaven
28) His creativity
29) His omnipotence (power)
30) His omniscience (He is all-knowing)
31) His omnipresence (He is everywhere)
32) His sovereignty
33) His righteousness
34) His thoughts towards me
35) My husband
36) My husband's salvation
37) My husband's health
38) My husband's leadership in our home
39) My husband's job
40) My children
41) My children's health
42) Our home
43) Living in Orange County
44) Our cars
45) We never go hungry
46) We have beds to sleep in
47) We have a lot of clothes to wear
48) Compass Bible Church
49) The opportunity to serve in Thrive (Marriage Ministry)
50) The opportunity to serve in the Partner's Ministry
51) The opportunity to serve in the Edge
52) My Daddy
53) My sister, my best friend, Krysten
54) My sweet brother, Nathaniel
55) My brother-in-law, Kurt
56) My brother-in-law, Tim
57) My sister-in-law, Allison
58) My sister-in-law, Erin
59) My brother-in-law, Nick
60) My Mom-in-law, Lois
61) Zoie
62) Noah
63) Madeline
64) Elise
65) Elizabeth
66) My aunt, Suzi
67) My uncle, Mark
68) My aunt, Rachel
69) My uncle, Chase
70) My aunt, Kathy
71) My uncle, Derek
72) My cousin, April
73) My cousin, Cole
74) My cousin, Lance
75) My cousin, Blake
76) My Grandma
77) My Grandpa
78) The time I had with my Pops
79) My Gran
80) My dearest friend, Morgan
81) My sweet friend, Lisa
82) My sweet friend, Lacey
83) My sweet friend, Deidra
84) My sweet friend, Chiara
85) My sweet friend, Heather
86) My sweet friend, Megan
87) My sweet friend, Andrea
88) All the GNO girls
89) I live in the United States
90) I can read my bible whenever I want
91) I can listen to worship music whenever I want
92) I can read
93) The Biblical teaching at Compass Bible Church
94) The pastors of Compass Bible Church
95) The brothers and sisters at Compass Bible Church
96) The ministry leaders at Compass Bible Church
97) His beautiful creation
98) My job
99) The opportunity for Mike to finish school on a full scholarship
100) The opportunity for me to finish school
