November 28, 2013

Giving Thanks

Early Tuesday I had a breast biopsy and late yesterday afternoon the doctor called to say that it was benign. I told the doctor I had already made mental plans for a double mastectomy and he laughed and told me to cancel the appointment. I really didn’t think I’d been that worried, but the good news was followed by a huge sigh of relief and rejoicing. “And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Matt 10:30-31) Giving Thanks in all things.

1 comment:

Steve Corey said...

Gail;

-----That indeed is something for giving thanks. We can list seemingly countless brushes with disaster. And most of us truly are thankful for escaping them. God cherishes this gratitude.
-----Is life a series of moments? Or is it a stream of activity? Is it everything which happens overall? Or is it merely this one moment? Is it just me? Or is it everyone? And if it is everyone, is it everyone who has been, is now, and will ever be? It is.
-----Every time I think about thanking God I think about the second century Christians. I think about the poor dear in the arena who fervently prayed for the lions to be Christians. Was she thankful when she saw her lion stop at her feet and ask the Lord to bless his meal? Paul says to be thankful in everything. Was he meaning those poor souls stuffed inside the hollow bronze bulls and set to roast alive over fires were to be thankful in those things, too? Am I to be thankful in my brother’s having been thrown out the window of his van and drug down the street between two vehicles hooked together and slapping each other like clapping hands?
-----Being thankful for good fortune acknowledges the goodness of the source of fortune. Being thankful for bad fortune acknowledges the goodness of the source of fortune. Life is God’s stream of momentary activities happening one at a time till all of every human’s living activities have flowed into one vast sea of meaning about Him. In as much as each moment of each life is eventually to be a part of that sea of meaning, it bears that sea’s meaning as it happens, no matter how small that moment might be parsed, no matter how insignificant the life experiencing it is. For the meaning of the whole sea of moments is, “God is right.”
-----I’ve had serious pains in my life. You have also. It is the human condition. But every knee shall bow, regardless of the amount of pains it has had, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. This also is the human condition. And that I might bow my knees and confess this at any or every moment marks the moment as that of one of His. No matter how excruciating a moment’s pain might be, such a mark testifies that it is from a heart agreeing He is right. For if the moment were not right it would not happen, because the Father who is righteous would not have allowed it. Therefore, to just be a part of any happening moment acknowledges His righteousness, and to be thankful in this at the least acknowledges the Father of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And to know that the least I can be thankful for in any moment is the greatest that any moment can be makes me rest secure and joyfully ready for another moment.

Love you all,
Steve Corey