Andy's Blog: A Personal Word

November 2008 Archive

November 18, 2008

Nov. 18, 2008

Preacher/teacher Fred Craddock tells about spending a Saturday morning with his three-year-old granddaughter, Kristin. They went for a walk and played together in the neighborhood park. They saw acorns and flowers and rocks and sticks and squirrels and birds and butterflies. They had a wonderful morning and returned home in time for lunch.

As the two of them sat down at the table, Kristin boldly announced to her grandfather that they should return thanks before eating and that she would do it. And then she said, “God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food. Amen.” Her grandfather also said “Amen.” Kristin looked at him and said, “Gramps, we’ve got to do it again.” “Why? What’s the matter?” he asked. She said, “You didn’t hold you hands right!” “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said. Then little Kristin got out of her chair, walked over to her grandfather, fixed his hands, and like an instructor, said, “Gramps, if you don’t hold your hands right, it won’t work.”

Craddock ends by saying: “Do you know what? I held my hands right, and it worked!” Kristin was grateful, and I was grateful! It was wonderful!”

Stopping to say thanks works. It works in giving us a different attitude about our lives and about the world. Instead of looking at life grudgingly, it helps us to see life as a gift to be celebrated and lived fully. Someone has said that gratitude is like a magnet which draws the joy from life. Through the eyes of gratitude, we are able to see the good that we take for granted. Gratitude replaces a “Bah Humbug” with a “Wow” attitude towards life. 

“…whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:17

November 4, 2008

Nov. 4, 2008

Why do bad things happen to good people? was the name of a popular book a few years back. It’s a question we all ask from time to time. When bad things happen we want to know why. Yet seldom do we ask the other question, “Why do good things happen?”

Folk philosopher Robert Fulghum, writes about his grandfather who was more interested in those times when miracles happen to ordinary people. He held that Murphy’s Law does not always hold. Every now and then the law of the universe seems to be suspended, nothing seems able to keep something from going right.  If you are a Texas Tech fan, that happened on Saturday night when Tech beat top ranked Texas in the last seconds of the game. But it is not always something as dramatic as this.

Remember the time when you were washing dishes and dropped a glass into the sink but it didn’t break? Or how about the time when you leave your car lights on all day and come out to find your battery dead – but you are parked on a hill which allows you to do a rolling start? A near miss at an intersection, the $20 bill in your coat pocket, picking the right lane at the check out counter for once, or getting the parking place right next to the door at the mall during the Christmas rush?

Fulghum reminds us of these small miracles that happen day by day. When not only did the worst not happen, but maybe nothing much happened at all, or some little piece fell neatly into place. The grace of what-might-have-been-but-wasn’t. The ecstasy of what-could-never-happen-but-did...or the bliss of just what-was-for-a-day when nothing special took place – life just worked.

Fulghum writes that his grandfather blesses God each day when he takes himself off to bed, having eaten and not been eaten, once again. In a time when so much seems to be wrong, maybe it helps to thank God for what is right.

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