One Week Later

 It has been one week since Thanksgivng Day. Can you believe it has been a week already? With all that has been going on in the world today, it seems that time should be dragging by, but it isn't. Time marches on. One day rolls into the next and then the next and before you know it, it has been a week. Then it will be a month. And then finally a new year. After all, this is the month of December. I felt like time had been dragging along ever since March. But then I turned around and here it is December. This is the first week in Advent. It focuses us upon hope - hope that is given in Jesus Christ. We look forward to His coming - as the Christ child, into our lives with Word and Sacrament, and on the Last Day. Hope does not disappoint us. We live in hope, a sure and certain hope that is shown us in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Living in that hope, we are lifted up, especially in this difficult and tumultuous time. 

So let me ask you, are you still as thankful as you were last week? Have you continued giving thanks to the Lord each and every day? So often, we take one day, give thanks of that day, and then go back to our normal lives, forgetting to count the many blessings that we are given each day. Life gets busy. We go back to work, school, our mundane lives and we spend time thanking the Lord. On Thanksgiving day, the gospel reading is from Luke, the account of the healing of the 10 lepers. All were healed, one returned to Jesus to give thanks. We focus on that one. I often wonder about the other 9. What was going on in their minds? As they went along, did they think about giving thanks? Did they think, perhaps we should go back to Jesus and give Him thanks? Or did they think, I will get around to it after I go to the priests, after I spend the prescribed time in isolation, offering the sacrifices and then returning to their homes? When Jesus passed through their town at a later day, did each one of them go out to greet Him and offer Him their thanks? Did they tell their family about Jesus as their Master and Lord? I truly hope so. We will never know until we get to heaven. I look forward to seeing them there in heaven, to hear their story that they were healed by Jesus when they were lepers. I look forward to hugging them (no covid!) and lifting up my voice in songs of praise at that moment.

But do I do the same thing today? I hope so. I think about the love that the Lord gives to me each day, and I give thanks. I think about my family, and I give thanks to the Lord. I think about the church I am serving, and I give thanks. I think about the churches I have served, and I give thanks. I think about the lives I have touched hrough the various ministries, prison ministry, LWML zone, district and national, through the youth ministry and youth gatherings, and I give thanks. I thank the Lord for all that He has done for me and through me. I thank the Lord, not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day, for the life that I have been given. This life, with all the ups and downs, the goods and bads, is a blessing to me. I have learned much through the trials and tribulations. I have received more forgiveness from the Lord, from Penny, from my family, from my friends, than I deserve.

I rejoice. I thank God. I want to hug each one, despite covid, I still want to hug each one of you. Why? Because that is one way that I am able to show the love that Christ has placed in my heart. It is one way that I am able to say, "Thank you for being a part of my life, and for letting me be a part of your life. I thank God for you."

Each day, giving thanks. One week later. Still giving thanks. I hope that I am still giving thanks one month later, and then another month. I want to still be giving thanks when Thanksgiving 2021 shows up. For in a year's time, I will not have given thanks enough for all that the Lord has done for me in my life.

One week later, are you still giving thanks?