Rhino and thankfulness ...

I am not thankful for even one thing!!

Well, that's how it seems I go through life most of the time anyway.

About as thankful as as an obese rhinoceros who finds happens to find itself in a huge quicksand pit.

I mean, I have health, a good marriage, good skills, good education, good kids, shoes that fit, etc. I do not live in Syria, Somalia or Baghdad.  My car is not broken down. My foosball game is ok.

Yet once in a while, like this morning, I am struck anew with just how thankless of a creature I really am.  Thankless as in not thankful.  Thankless as in utterly devoid of gratitude.

The story in Luke of Jesus healing the 10 men with leprosy has always intrigued me.  I won't go through the story but only one was thankful to be healed and the other 90% apparently were never heard of again.

I guess I am in the 90% most of the time.

However I do have the Holy Spirit in me. And the Holy Spirit wants to move me from the 90% to the 10%, I am certain.

And those days, like today, when I awaken awestruck at all that God has done for me and continues to do for me, I feel thanksgiving roll out of me like lightning rolls out of thunder clouds.

It is natural ... it is borne of the Spirit ... it is healing on about 5,000 levels simultaneously.

I do not have a prescription for myself to overcome thanklessness ... I know countless books, sermons, etc have been written and preached on this topic.  But sometimes more words are just not the answer, folks.

I simply have an awareness of my condition. But a man far wiser than me once said, simple awareness is 50% of the solution.

Therefore, I'm half the way there.

You?

Turbo-sunsets

 The most life-giving people that I am ever around are those who are full of grace.

The most energizing people that I am ever around are those who accept me just like I am. And have given up trying to change me.

Have you ever been around someone who keeps trying to conform you into their own image of how you should be? It is uncomfortable and is much like using a key in a lock where the key is off just a little bit. Great effort might be expended in trying to get the lock unlocked but trust me, the key will break first.

Displaying grace and acceptance to others allows the key to unlock the lock every time.

Carl Rogers, the father of modern American psychology, said that one of the most difficult tasks for people is to accept others like they accept sunsets. When we step outside at night to view a sunset, we never say turn the pinks up and turn the blues down and then the sunset will be just right. No, we accept the beauty in the sunset just like it is.

Something tells me that when we accept others like we accept sunsets, we are displaying the grace of Christ to them. And grace is always, always, always transformational.

I am not good at this… As a matter of fact, I am pretty poor at it. But this is how I want to be.

Homework: the next person that you meet, accept them exactly like you accept the sunset. Just the way they are. And let God do the work.

Anything else is exhausting and really doesn't produce much at all.

Hey, follow me on my brand-new Twitter account with the username Blankenthoughts. Yep, I knew you would like that name. And invite others to follow also.

To the sunset!

Adding insult to injury… Sort of

The bad effects that people can have on you I believe can fall quickly into two categories… They can either injure you or they can irritate you.

Anybody is capable of inflicting one of these two on you and will do so. It doesn't matter if it's a friend or family, a coworker, a stranger… all can inflict one of these two categories upon you.

It's no fun but hey, this is what life on planet earth looks like.

First, this does not need to surprise us or freak us out or make us run screaming into the night. It is the nature of our fallen world.

Second, we have to walk in radical forgiveness on a daily basis. It is the only way to keep our hearts unpolluted.

If you choose to hold a persistent grudge against someone because they have either injured you or irritated you, it is to your profound detriment.

Live in this world in an understanding way… Lead with forgiveness.

Buzzards, tin cans and putting your car in reverse

When I was younger, my father would take my brother and me into the forest with our guns (we were old enough to have been taught gun safety) to target practice.  It was called plinking.  We would spend Sunday afternoons just plinking.

Our targets were as elusive as tin cans and coke bottles.  We would also lie on our backs and shoot at buzzards as they circled high, high above us, looking for their next tasty meal.

The tin cans and cokes we often hit ... we never hit a buzzard.

But  it didn't matter.  We were with our father and having a great time.  

After a while, we would pack up and head home.

Completely satisfied.

My father has been deceased over 20 years.  Yet the memory of time spent with him is still satisfying, like a cool, refreshing breeze settling over my spirit.

Our heavenly father cannot be seen, touched or perceived by any of our 5 senses.  Yet he is as real as my earthly father ever was.

The cool breeze inwardly that I feel when I think of my dad and those times with him have to be available to us with our heavenly father. The only difference as I see it is that there are no memories involved, it is a continuing present-day reality.  

Persistent, viable and actual.

The outward world is often chaotic, rife with literal and figurative tornados, tsunamis and earthquakes.  

Yet our inner world can be one of a protected harbor, a placid pond, a place of cool breezes.  

Step back today from the rim of your personal volcano ... put your emotional car into reverse for just a moment today and back away from the grinding traffic jam that might be bottling your life ... close your eyes and spend time with your heavenly father.

The times of refreshing will surely be summoned to your spirit.

At least that's how I see it on this Saturday morning.

Literally… Not!

Those who passionately insist on a completely literal interpretation of the Bible always pull back when they read the verse about taking up your cross daily.