students of jesus

How many Thanksgiving movies are you aware of? Last week we highlighted a sweet little indie flick, Pieces of April.

This week, I recommend a manic, crazy, and highly entertaining movie for anyone who has ever dreaded going home for the holidays:

Home for the Holidays (1995): Jodie Foster has only directed four movies in her career. For some reason she chose this tale of a dysfunctional family’s annual gathering at Thanksgiving. Holly Hunter loses her job, makes out with her ex-boss, and heads home to face the music of her disintegrating life. Her mother, wonderfully played by Anne Bancroft, is more than happy to sing songs of despair. Adding to this remarkable family are Robert Downey, Jr. and Charles Durning. This film, by the way, has one of the most interesting opening-credit sequences I’ve ever seen. It will also make you genuinely grateful for your family, because next to this crew of misfits, nearly any family looks great!

There are a few objections to thankfulness. Some say it teaches us to yield our lives to outside factors—the actions of others or the follies of chance. Others object to gratitude because it is rooted in the past. Whether we are thankful for those things we already have or the best moments of our lives, some say thankfulness is nothing more than revisionist nostalgia and a longing for that past.

But they are mistaken. Thankfulness is more than nostalgia. It is receiving the present moment—each moment—as a gift from God. The Father is not only present everywhere, he is present in each moment. What’s more, only he can plumb the depths held by every passing minute.

Our memories are too small. We cannot remember each minute of the previous week—how much less the minutes that have filled a decade? What if thankfulness is the safe-deposit of all our moments? What if the mere act of gratitude in the moment captures and stores the moment for us to appreciate—and praise him—again and again throughout eternity? Too often I’ve experienced his presence or discovered the joy of heaven in a family moment only to think, “Jesus, please help me remember this, and give you praise in the remembering.”

If we can discover the sacred potential of each moment, we will find a pearl of great promise: his kingdom, here, today—and discover that his kingdom is big enough to hold all of our grateful yesterdays as well.

Ask Yourself: Is it possible I’ve forgotten the goodness of God from last year—or ten years ago?

Live Into It: Don’t try to be Indiana Jones by searching for the the past. Instead, become a curator of each new moment by entrusting it to God’s safe keeping. How? Perhaps thanking him in the moment is the key to preserving that moment forever.

Monday, UGH!  -- Or, is it? 

I don’t know what kind job you have: difficult or mind-numbing, demanding or a walk in the park, six-figure or minimum wage—but work among the blessings for which we should give thanks. In fact, you may not have a “job” at all, but work is still a net good.

Sometimes I teach an Introduction to Old Testament course at a nearby university. Since Genesis is the first book, we usually start there. And Genesis opens with two chapters of perfection: Light, life, vines, trees, birds, and humans. These first two chapters are a unique view of life as God intended. In class I ask my students, “What existed before sin entered the world?” It’s another way of asking, “What elements of life are on God’s list of ‘Good’?”

Most 18-20 year olds are shocked to discover that work is on the list. Work is part of God’s plan for us. It ennobles us. Work gives glory to God by providing a platform for us to apply the thousand other gifts we have been given. In his wisdom, he has given us all something to do. How about you?

Ask Yourself: Do I see my work as a part of God’s provision—not just for the money, but for my nobility as his handiwork?

Live Into It: If Monday is Ugh-Day for you, perhaps it’s time to discover why. The very act of gratitude toward work can change the game, for you, and everyone around you.

Twenty-nine years of marriage, in the books today. November 10^th 1984—I married a Southern woman. Whatever I know of the love of God, I first learned from her. It would be a crime against the goodness of God not to give thanks for her. Indeed, a man who does not give thanks for his wife does not understand he has received a good gift from God. 

But first, I must ask for a truce. I care nothing for arguments over various Christian views of marriage. Nor do I intend to advocate for any one view of how two sinful people can live together for so long but to say that this, too, is a mystery and a gift. Please, check your arguments with your coat and hat (but do come in). I mean only to celebrate—thankfully—the goodness of God and my incredible good luck.

Marriage is so commonplace we miss the miracle daily. Yet marriage should be the cause of everyday thanks. It was God’s idea from the beginning. He saw that it was not good for man to be alone. Nor was it within man’s power to remedy the situation. The same is true today: it takes divine intervention, it takes a new creation, and it takes a humble heart day after day to discover the wonder God puts in front of us. What fool dares to presume he knows the treasure of a spouse?

I am that fool. In the foolishness of youth I imagined my wife was some kind of “reward” for the years of my walk with God. (In the words of Bugs Bunny, “What a maroon!”) It only took a few years for me to realize this was bollocks. But the fool in me fought hard. My fallback position: “You are my reward in advance—for all my life,” I gushed silly nonsense toward her. She thought it was sweet but I suspect she was merely matronizing me. Eventually I came to see it was all grace. Grace surprising, grace unending, grace miraculous.

I should not limit such thanks to an anniversary. Less still to 30 Thankful Days. My more liturgical friends have it right when they call marriage a sacrament. Yet not completely right. The true sacrament of marriage is daily, on-going, and for us, just 29 years young today.

The more I think about it, I’m beginning to discover there’s a difference between giving thanks and having a thankful heart. I’m also beginning to discover that the Father cares more about thankfulness flowing from the inside out than obedience we wear like a cheap suit.

Rather than hearing thankfulness as a command, perhaps we can hear it as an invitation:

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Colossians 3: 15-16)

Who wouldn’t want a heart like that?

Ask Yourself: Like I said -- Who wouldn’t want a heart like that?

Live Into It: Use this passage from Colossians as an inventory. Get real with yourself: how much of this verse describes me right now? Can you hear the passive side of Paul's admonition, "Let . . ." In truth, we couldn't accomplish the new birth on our own, perhaps we need help from God's side to develop a thankful heart. Jesus--are you listening? How does that happen?