The Golden List – Emily's Snippets

November 22, 2016

The Golden List

Thanksgiving! Why is it so difficult to find why to be thankful? So often I remember the Ten AM Bible Study for the ‘Old People’. Our minister, Jack, asked for prayer requests, the list became as lengthy as a child’s toy list at Christmas.

Then Jack asked for praises and thank-you’s. A profound silence and furtive glances around the room. We searched our hearts and minds for a worthy praise to be shared – a veritable ‘Yay – God’ happening.

I realized how often I took the ‘little’ every day praises for granted. We expect air to breathe, health, sleep, food, a place to belong, and the fellowship we enjoy with our fellow Christian encouragers.

We teach our children to say thank you, but often without the deeper understanding of the why of thank you. The words become empty of gratitude and become simply ‘manners’ words. When we teach our children the Who of the recipient of our Thank You – they begin to understand the love of God the Father, and Jesus the Son.

The other morning I cracked an egg open. It contained an unexpected double-yolk. Immediately a vivid memory picture of my Mom dancing in the kitchen, praising God! One of Dad’s hens laid a double-yolker! Memories like pearls strung in my mind revealed the visit with Mom one evening on the back porch of home in Watonga, Oklahoma. As a girl, she discovered the first star of the evening and told her secrets to the star. Now, each evening I look for Mom’s star and praise God for her faith and life, and the blessings of the day. On a cloudy evening, I smile and say to myself, “God must have given our star the night off.”

One Christmas, Mom apologized. There is not enough money for any gifts. She knitted one pair of mittens for my two brothers and me. Mom gave us more than a gift of money, a pair of mittens or what money can buy that year. She gave us the gift of a Christmas Day of family memories together – praising the Lord that we were together. We played games and made candy, sang carols and celebrated the birthday of Jesus with love and His birth story in Luke 2.

One of the Hallmark movies I saw recently pictured a poor man in a freight boxcar, writing with his finger in the air. When a teenager asked what he was doing, the man replied, “Making my Golden List of Gratefulness.” “My Mom said to begin each day making a list of ten things I am grateful for,” he explained.

We thank God one day a year with one eye on the food and the other eye on the score. Meanwhile, God waits for our Golden List of Gratitude.

Without Him, we would have nothing, even the air we breathe. In Him, we learn about true, everlasting love in Jesus. Through Him, we are enabled to reach out to others with serving, love, and gratitude. With Him in our hearts, He strengthens our hope and our trust. Because of Him we grow to be truly in the image of God, from the inside out. On Him, my life is secure and each moment I can thank Him for guidance, protection, and faithfulness.

Being Thankful is more than a word. Thankfulness is the entry to a life of trusting our God to shape who and what we become in God and how we proclaim our love in what we are given – Life!

Thanksgiving Day is every day. The Golden List of praises and thanks changes us to see beyond our usual field of vision to see and love.

“Our Lord in Heaven, Hallowed by thy Name.

     Your kingdom come. Your will be done
     On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
     For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
     And do not lead us into temptation,
     But deliver us from the evil one.” Luke 11:2-4

They sang, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength belong to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Revelation 7:12

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. I Chronicles 16:34

The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. Psalm 28:7

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to the Most High. Psalm 92:1

Give thanks to him who alone does mighty miracles. His faithful love endures forever. Psalm 136:4

Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward, he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. John 6:11

We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians 1:3

Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks. I Timothy 4:4

And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20

These gates lead to the presence of the Lord, and the godly enter there. I thank you for answering my prayer and giving me victory! Psalm 118:20-22

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