E ach morning Rex and I have our morning devotions together. This morning we were reading Romans 16:3–16, and as we read, something important began to stir in my heart that I would like to share with you. The Apostle Paul was greeting and thanking fellow believers who had made an impact on his life and helped him further the message of the Gospel. There are a lot of hard to pronounce names in those verses, and I found myself wondering why it was so important to Paul that he mention them. He seemed determined to leave no one out.

It reminded me of those long lists of names in the Old Testament that we often call the “begats.” I think many of us have wondered why God considered those names important enough to include in the Scriptures. Yet every name in those lists was of utmost importance. Each one represented a real person who lived, loved, dreamed, had children, and became part of the lineage through which our Lord Jesus Christ eventually came and perhaps the names Paul mentions in Romans 16 are there for much the same reason. They were not simply names on a list. Each name represented someone who had touched Paul’s life, stood beside him, labored with him, and helped advance the Kingdom of God. Every name mattered.

As I pondered this and asked the Holy Spirit about it, He began to quicken something in my heart. Greeting people, recognizing them, and thanking them is not something of small sig-nificance to God. In fact, thanksgiving is part of His very nature, and throughout Scripture He continually tells us to give thanks. We are thankful that we belong to Him, that we were bought with a price, and that through Christ we have become part of the family of God. But we should also be thankful for one another, for the believers God has placed in our lives and for the family of God with whom we are fellow heirs in Christ.

“Eucharist (thanksgiving) is the state of the perfect man. Eucharist is the life of paradise. Eucharist is the only full and real response of man to God’s creation, redemption, and it is a gift of heaven.” Alexander Scheming

The Lord has been working on me for several months in this area of gratitude and the power it can have in a person’s life. I have come to believe that we cannot truly experience the abundant life He has promised us without learning thankfulness and gratitude. The more gratitude becomes woven into the very fiber of our thoughts and our daily walk of faith, the more freely the fruit of the Spirit can flow through our lives.

“One act of thanksgiving when things go wrong with us is worth a thousand thanks when things are agreeable to our inclinations.” Saint John of Ávila

I am discovering that thankfulness is something we must exercise. Through the Holy Spirit working within us, we can discipline ourselves throughout the day to give thanks. That is especially important because we are continually being bombarded with “bad news.” The more we hear, and the worse the condition of our world appears to become, the easier it is to find ourselves living under the negativity, fear, and hopelessness being projected around us

I am not saying that we should put our heads in the sand or refuse to be informed. But I am saying that when we hear the bad news, it becomes even more important that we saturate ourselves in praise and worship and deliberately choose thankfulness and gratitude. We discipline our minds to think upon those things that are pure and lovely. We learn to enjoy what God has created, saturate ourselves in His Word, and continually submit our lives and our thoughts to Him.

WHEN YOU GIVE THANKS FOR THE LIFE YOU HAVE, YOU OFTEN DISCOVER THE LIFE YOU HAVE ALWAYS WANTED!

I n the book One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp tells of discovering that as she began giving thanks for the life she already had, she began finding the life she had always wanted. She disciplined herself to notice and write down the people, moments, and things for which she was thankful. Her goal was to list one thousand gifts.

As she practiced gratitude, she began experiencing a depth of joy she had not known before. She learned to see beauty and reasons for thanksgiving in things that previously seemed insignificant. Thankfulness caused her to slow down and begin looking at life through different eyes. Gratitude was changing how she saw her life, her circumstances, and even the pain and tragedy she had carried.

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and establish in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, accord-ing to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” Col 2:6-8

The other night Rex and I were watching a documentary about the life and disciplines of the Shakers when one particular practice caught my attention. Three times every day, they made it a practice to get on their knees and give thanks to God. I am certainly not advocating all the beliefs and practices of the Shakers, but something about that discipline of thanksgiving stayed with me. I began wondering whether there is something here that many of us have neglected.

“Sometimes, in our effort not to become legalistic, perhaps we have also walked away from some of the disciplines of our faith that can actually help us grow in intimacy with God. Prayer is a discipline. Reading His Word is a discipline. Worship can require discipline. And perhaps deliberately stopping during our day simply to say, “Thank You, Lord,” is a spiritual discipline we need to rediscover.” Lois Burgher

Thankfulness changes where we place our attention. Instead of continually looking at what is wrong, what we have lost, what we lack, or what we fear may happen tomorrow, gratitude causes us to stop and recognize what God has already placed before us today. I am discovering afresh that this discipline of thanksgiving and praise, through the Holy Spirit working within us, may be one of heaven’s secrets to living the abundant life.

And as we conclude this newsletter during this wonderful season of harvest and Thanksgiving, Rex and I would be remiss if we did not tell you how deeply grateful we are for each and every one of you. Like Paul, we are reminded that behind every name is a person, and behind every person is a story. Many of you have prayed for us, encouraged us, supported us, loved us, and stood with us through the years. “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.” 1 Thessalonians 1:2

Much Love and Gratitude,