My Thanksgiving List

Have you made your Thanksgiving List?  With every passing year, Christmas music, Christmas lights, and Christmas lists appear earlier and earlier.  Now just so you know, I love Christmas and that is not intended to be any indictment on those who have already put up your Christmas tree.

My point is simply that many of us have already begun asking our loved ones and friends that familiar question: “What would you like for Christmas?”  Ever stopped to consider asking what your family and friends to give a list for what they are thankful? I love giving and receiving gifts and I am not against making Christmas lists.  But shouldn’t our thanksgiving list come before our Christmas list? Haven’t we already so many things to be thankful for even if we receive nothing else from God or other people?

The Lord Jesus has given to us every good and perfect gift present in our lives. Far too often we live like the nine lepers healed who failed to return and give thanks to God, rather than living like the one leper who upon seeing his deliverance from a life of disease, being ostracized from his family and friends, came back to worship and give thanks to God.  I have been delivered from a far greater disease than leprosy.  I have been adopted into the family of God after spending years ostracized as an enemy of God.  Jesus made it possible through His sacrificial death and resurrection.

So let’s pause, even albeit a brief pause, and create our Thanksgiving List.  My Thanksgiving 5 List includes:

I am thankful to be rescued.  Jesus hung between heaven and earth on a cross to suffer what I deserved.  Yet what I received through His death and resurrection is a life rescued from the pit of death to be lavished with grace, mercy, and forgiveness.  I am thankful to be rescued.

I am thankful for my first priority.  The most gracious person I know is my wife Sarah.  Together we have three blessings (presently) named Isaac, Ethan, and Micah. My first priority and greatest responsibility after obediently following Christ is to love and lead my wife and family. They are a treasure I would not and do not desire to trade for anything else in this world.  I am thankful for my family.

I am thankful for the Lord’s weaving.  Our journey in life consists of the threads God weaves together.  I confess that I don’t always see what He is weaving.  I don’t always like what He is allowing.  In the days of my darkest journey to date with Micah’s illness and the incredible days of uncertainty and looming death, I reflect to see the Lord’s hand weaving a beautiful tapestry for my good and His glory.  I am thankful for the Lord’s weaving.

I am thankful for investors.  As iron sharpens iron, other men and friends sharpen my life.  They make the investment of time and energy to teach me and challenge me to grow.  I can count no less than five men with whom I have regular contact in this way.  I am thankful for these older men who are investors into this younger man.

I am thankful for the honor to serve. What God does in our lives is not often what we expect. When God chose to make clear He would have for me and my family to come to serve Wakefield through leading as pastor, it was not what I was anticipating God was about to do in our lives. Yet I have served for just over two years and it has been an honor. In the last year, my greatest joy has been to see our community of believers embrace the mission to love God, love others, and reach the world beginning right in Wakefield. Although we have just scratched the surface, I am honored to serve in leading Wakefield to continue fulfilling our mission both here and around the world.

These are not all the things for which I am thankful.  They do, however, stand at the top of the list.

Now it is your turn.  Take a few minutes, write down your Thanksgiving List, and then share it with others.  Happy Thanksgiving!