O, GIVE THANKS!!
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds” [Psalms 57: 9-10 ESV].
As we begin preparing for the upcoming Thanksgiving celebration, I pray that family and friends will enjoy this time together in a safe, warn, and relaxing environment.
The past eighteen months have been challenging; some of us have been through so much, we doubted whether we would be here today; but thank God through it all, here we are. The fact that we are here is ample reason to join with the psalmist David and give thanks!
It’s, therefore, my sincere hope and prayer that you will not become so overwhelmed with the celebration that you forget to take time to reflect on God's grace and loving-kindness, and to say, thank you, Lord!
And then to be thankful to the people he has placed in our lives, the near ones. Often, we take them for granted but let's be intentional about being thankful this thanksgiving.
I often reflect on the story in Luke 17:11-19; Jesus, on his way to Jerusalem, met ten men that had leprosy, and He healed them of their leprosy. A day or so, one of those men came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him-and he was a Samaritan. Then, Jesus asked, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?"
Jesus' inquiry of the nine that did not think it necessary to return and give thanks for me is the strongest indication of His value on thankfulness.
Note, if you please, the one who felt grateful enough to come back and thank Jesus for the blessing was a despised Samaritan, a stranger if you please.
What made this one out of ten so grateful? I feel that he did what the old hymn says, "Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done."
Let's be thankful!
Levi Clarke
Mid-Atlantic Regional Bishop