Archive for November 25th, 2009
Thanks
Our family has enjoyed an incredibly blessed Thanksgiving season, enjoying being together, sharing good food, and the presence of a precious little guest that is the foster baby our kids are caring for at this time. This Thanksgiving has been wonderful!
Other Thanksgiving celebrations have been filled with other things. Misunderstandings, unexpected deaths, difficult illnesses, hard travel, and hurt feelings. Like you, I’m sure, the travel season of the holidays is a wondrous and sometimes worrisome time. In response to both, I will begin a short series of messages on Heartlight.org called Traveling Mercies about some of the more famous journeys made by God’s people of faith. Next week (December 3), I hope to look Moses, the following will be Ruth (December 10), then we will focus on Joseph and Mary and their trip to Bethlehem (December 17). The final week of the year, we will look at Saul’s trip to Damascus on the final day of the year, we will anticipate where God is going to take us this next year.
As you travel, I hope you will think about the following questions and pray that God will fill your season with His presence and that your joy will bless others. This Thanksgiving, I hope you will think about the following (these go with the week Heartlight.org article called, “The Long Wait”):
What is your most memorable Thanksgiving for good reasons?
What is your most regrettable Thanksgiving?
Most of the time, we talk about Thanksgiving as the holiday that is good and Christmas as the one that is commercialized.
* Why do think this is so?
* Which holiday do you like better and why?
* How can you make Thanksgiving more full of the joy of Jesus’ coming and Christmas more full of thanksgiving for what God has done for us?
* Why are both celebrations important for us as God’s people?
What can you do to prepare your heart and your family for a more proper approach to the Christmas season?