Tag Archives: Thankful heart

Taking out the garbage

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Are you thankful for trash haulers? I am. Around here, Friday is garbage day. Early every Friday morning some men come around with a large truck to haul away everything I’ve put in the trash cans. I take out the garbage on Thursday night to be sure I don’t miss the truck. In fact, I take out the garbage throughout the week. Probably you do too, because we don’t want it stinking up our house!

 

Maybe you’ve known or heard of someone who hoards things. What we would consider trash just keeps piling up in their home. We might ask, “How in the world could someone live like that?!”

 

I wonder if we took a look in our “spiritual home” what we might find cluttering up the place. Our spiritual home the core of our being. You might think you have your spiritual home all cleaned up. But have you checked it for the trash that crowds out a thankful spirit? Things like bitterness, envy, resentment, gossip, anger, worry, unforgiveness, and discontent are easily hoarded. Of course, we have rationale for why we keep them around. “If you only knew what Sally did,” we say, trying to explain away our unthankful ways. “If you knew the troubles I’ve faced, you’d understand being bitter.” I get it. We all have our sorrows that beset us and threaten our gracious hearts. But when you realize that NONE of these hoarded attitudes do you any good, you may be moved to take them to curb like the unwelcome guests they are.

 

Our spiritual home is where we talk to God and also where we grumble. It is where we give thanks for so many blessings. At the same time it is where we harbor resentment toward others. Our negative and impure thoughts clutter up our spiritual home. Our self-seeking and lazy habits add to the piles of trash that make our home anything but ‘home sweet home.’ Like a hoarder, we may not see the piles amassing. We may not observe how they are crowding and overtaking our spirit. It’s easy to become accustomed to the stuff around us and not be bothered by it. But after a while it starts to smell. And not like a sweet fragrance our life is intended to be.

 

Just as people find it satisfying to ‘simplify’ their homes by removing the clutter, so keeping our spiritual home clean brings satisfaction and renewal. Let’s sweep out the stuff that hinders our ability to live thankful lives.

 

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts . . .And be thankful. Colossians 3:15

 

 

Complaining and grumbling

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I’m guessing that at some point in your life you have attended a whine party, maybe even threw one yourself. No, not ‘wine’ but ‘whine’. You know what it is like: someone complains about something and then someone else ups the ante with an even bigger complaint. And so the conversation slides quickly downhill, dragging everyone with it.

 

Complaining seems to be a national pastime. It’s easy to fall into the trap, isn’t it? When we get wrapped up in our own world of hurts and misfortunes all we see is ourselves.  I comment about my arm always hurting. My wife reminds me to be thankful because some people don’t have arms. Adding sarcasm to my whining, I think to myself, “Yeah, well they probably don’t hurt then, do they?”  See how easy it is? (sigh)

 

Paul warns us about grumbling and complaining in Philippians 2 where he encourages us to take our eyes off ourselves and seek the mindset of Jesus, the One:

 

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death  –   even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:6-8

 

And so, Paul continues, we should:  “Do everything without grumbling or arguing…” (v 14). Why? So we can:

– Be blameless and pure, behaving as children of God. 

– Stand out from a warped and crooked generation.

– Shine our light among others like the stars of the sky. 

– Hold firmly to the truth of the Word. 

– Live life with purpose and passion, not in vain, even if our life is one of continual sacrifice and faith, ‘poured out like a drink offering.’ 

 

How can we live pure lives by constant complaining? How can we behave like children of the king, privileged in so many ways and still be whiners? How can we live our life set apart from a crooked generation when we complain about things just as they do? Does grumbling make our light shine brighter? Does complaining help us to hold onto the truth?  No, it works against us! Complaining begets more complaining and a dissatisfaction with our plot in this temporary and short life. It destroys a thankful heart.

 

 

My wife is absolutely right: the cure to complaining is being thankful. We stop complaining when we start being thankful. You’ve heard the saying, “I complained I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.” Let’s declare a ban on personal complaining for at least 24 hours, and then renew the pledge the next day, and the next. See how your life changes and how your light shines brighter, when we refrain from grumbling and complaining when things don’t go our way.

 

 

More blessed now than before

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Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Psalm 103:1

Eleven months after being diagnosed with Leukemia, I find that I am more blessed, even still with a life-threatening disease than perhaps when I was healthier. “How can that be?” you ask.

Have you ever noticed that when the sun comes out on a cloudy day you can see more clearly than before? Have you caught yourself realizing the rare value of loving and being loved unconditionally? Even where bubbly joy may escape you, have you found instead a lasting and contented joy that circumstances can’t shake? If in the presence of adversity you dig deeper to find a heart that has been conditioned to give thanks in all situations, then you have found a treasure. There is always reason to give thanks for the one who trusts our merciful and faithful God. A thankful heart, an attitude of gratitude, is one of the keys to enduring and thriving in the midst of struggles! Along the difficult journey, sometimes surrounded by despair and worry, a thankful heart discovers unspeakable hope and a ‘fully persuaded’ faith that is a firm and secure anchor for your soul. In fact, it is not a new discovery but one which has sustained you all along your path. Only now, it lifts you to greater heights. Its light shines brighter to reveal that your path of trial does not go on forever. If you find these things, you have found immense treasure.

All good news and no bad? Are there no struggles and heartaches? Ones that sometimes wear you down? Oh for sure there are; and certainly more to come. But where there are those, there are blessings all the more. Especially the blessings of faith, hope, and love. These are blessings that are always available to us. In the face of adversity, we always make a choice; perhaps not a conscious one, but a choice none the less: we choose to surrender either to our circumstances and to the impotence of own attempts to overcome them, or to the real power God offers to be victors. Whether your struggles are large or small, whether you have carried them for a short time or much of your life, TODAY is the day you can choose to respond with faith, with hope, with love. Cultivate a thankful heart that learns to rise above the circumstances and rest in the presence of God’s love for you. Be more blessed now than before.