Every Day is Thanksgiving

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
   the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 
² Day after day they pour forth speech; 
   night after night they display knowledge. 
³ There is no speech or language 
   where their voice is not heard. 
⁴ Their voice goes out into all the earth, 
   their words to the ends of the world.

Psalm 19:1-4a

This time of year, many people set time aside to draw closer to God in humility, thanking Him for the material and spiritual things He has given them.  He delights in our praising Him, in our acknowledging Him to be the good, holy, trustworthy, loving God and Redeemer He is.

As the crowning glory of God's creation, let us learn from the skies and heavens and praise the Lord, profess His holy name, and declare His glory day after day, night after night-- always.

Praise the Lord!

Praise God in his Sanctuary;

Praise Him in His mighty firmament!

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 150:1, 6

Will Look to Help

I saw something thought-provoking on my way to lunch.  On one corner of the driveway, a crude sign proclaiming, "Homeless: Will Work for Food." On the other side, a Salvation Army Christmas kettle.  I began to wonder.  To whom are more people going to give?  Would they give directly to the unfortunate? Or would they give to the organization that gives to the unfortunate?

I'm inclined to think people would be more willing to give to the organization.  Perhaps they fear the holder of the sign could be scamming or would use the money to support unseemly habits.  Perhaps they think the little cash they have with them would not be enough to assist the sign holder and feel guilty about not being able to do more.  Or, perhaps, donating to an organization makes it less personal--makes it so they do not have to see those suffering from the problem.  Maybe we are helping the unseen people, trying to defeat the unseen enemy of poverty instead of reaching out to help people on our own.

Now, there is nothing wrong with donating to The Salvation Army (or other organizations).  For the most part, they (and many other groups) seem worthy.  However, this scenario challenged me to open my eyes and see ways to help those around me directly instead of only delegating assistance to other people or organizations.  I ought to be more active in assisting people in addition to placing some change in the red kettle--whether it is helping someone pick up the papers he or she dropped on the floor, offering a sympathetic ear, or considering giving food or money to someone who needs it.

Socially Appropriate

Yesterday was one of those days where I hoped it wouldn't end simply because I would have to get up the following morning.  Nothing overly awful occurred.  A lot of compounding situations and feelings contributed to the dourness. My grandmother's sickness and pain hurts and saddens me, the potential for infection in my horse's wound worries me, questions about my future make me anxious, and the fallen state of the world causes me to grieve on behalf of God.  Thankfully, Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross absolves us from our sins and allows us to walk with Him.  Hallelujah!  


So, 82% of myself was trying to be miserable while the remaining 18% meekly, but persistently, attempted to show me my irrationality.  Thus, I wasn't given over to despair, and was frustrated I couldn't have a consistent internal feeling.  Cooking didn't help.  I could not pray.  Music annoyed.  With daylight fading rapidly, I took a break from my cooking and drove to the barn to clean up Black Jack's face.  On the drive there, my negative and self-degrading thought processes continued until I arrived at the barn in tears.  As I opened my door, I smiled a bit ruefully at the sound of children laughing.  I quickly forgot their joy.  But then, as I walked towards the pastures, Black Jack surprised me by coming up to the fence, greeting me even before I called him.  His eagerness to see me didn't affect me immediately, but as I cared for his injury and felt his sweet, willing-to-please attitude, my foul mood began to dissipate.


This demonstrated far more to me than the fact I love my horse and he makes me happy.  His soft expressions and eager desire to spend some time with me proves the power of a smile and honesty.  Too often I find myself hiding my emotions because I feel they aren't socially appropriate for me to express. If I am happy to see someone, I should convey that.  If a person is down, a genuine smile could brighten his or her day.  I also need to not fear initiating communication with others.  I seldom do initiate--even if I really want to talk to that person--because I am afraid of being a bother: if he or she wants to talk to me, he or she will.  If he or she doesn't want to talk, I will content myself with watching and waiting.  When put in writing, I see how flawed this thinking is.  In practice, I know that if Black Jack hadn't come to the fence to greet me, hadn't been preemptive in his showing his appreciation of my company, I would have been stuck in furthering my morbidity.  People want to know they are valued, liked, loved.  And one of the ways I can show I value, like, and love them and their company is through my actions: greeting someone with a smile, meeting and greeting someone at the door, and simply going out of my way to let them know I am here for them if they need it.  Conveying appreciation is important, even if I do not know the person all that well.  Christians are to be mirrors of Christ and His love.  Despite our falleness, God loves and values us so much, He sent His Son to live, die, and rise again so we can be with Him forever.  If my smile and pleasant greeting can brighten a person's day, whether friend or stranger, and make them feel special, then I am pleased to give them a taste of what God's love can do for them.   What is more appropriate than that?  

Obviously!

I caught myself having this thought process while watching a segment of Focus on the Family's Truth Project.  The group of people "from the street" who have been asked questions were discussing their histories, and I felt myself rationalizing their situations in an almost judgmental way.  I was convicted, so I began a journal entry which ended up turning into an essay of sorts to share here.

Obviously!

Analyzing away the Effects

One can analyze a situation and rationalize it away.  However, this doesn’t change the fact people were and are emotionally affected by it.

Too often I find myself doing this.  Saying “Well, of course that happened!  What did you/he/she/they expect?!”  I decide the effect—result—of this scenario is something those involved should have anticipated.  Obviously this would happen!  Most people, however, do not go into situations expecting a bad result, and any number of clichéd phrases could be said in reprimand of my incredulity: “you don’t know their circumstances,” “Hindsight is 20/20,” etc.  But, these statements, however applicable, do not really address the point: these people are feeling, suffering, affected by their situation. 

The same applies to an “Oh, I never would have guessed that! You mean to say…” regard for the reasons a person is the way he or she is—that these effects had a cause.  Unfortunately, my sarcasm about an apparently obvious realization of events does not help the facts.  A person is suffering.  He needs help, not dismissal for being “obvious.”  The obvious nature of a situation doesn’t change the reality.  I need to keep a godly perspective of those around me.  I need to see people as a heart and soul, not some physical machine in a natural world.

However obvious the situation seems, the person(s) involved ultimately need understanding, sympathy, and love.  Do some of them need to have the error of their ways made known to them?  Yes.  Do I need to be the one to point this out to them?  Perhaps, but it definitely does not follow that such a revelation ought to be made in a harsh, judgmental way.  My ultimate responsibility is not to judge—it is never to judge—but rather to be available to address the needs of a person.

Rationalization or a sarcastic “no, really” response doesn’t eliminate the affect on those involved in a situation.  No matter how analytical or rational a situation seems, people still feel emotional ramifications.  When people are hurt, they need to receive sympathy, not ridicule.

Getting Started

I have been somewhat leery of beginning a blog because I find them to be overused.  In my mind, there were two types of bloggers: those people the general public have deemed important and are thought to have something of worth to share, and people wanting to share everything going on in their lives, thriving on "being seen."  Recently, I realized few bloggers actually fit into those categories.  It seems most have something they desire to share and do not care about the following  their musings, photographs, etc have achieved.  I, for one, am not blogging out of any sort of exhibitionist desires.  In fact, I would not have started Enquiries if I didn't feel as though God desired it of me.  Quite simply, I feel God wishes I share what I have learned about Him, His Word, and His creation (a very broad category, I know). God frequently speaks to me and helps me work through ideas while I have a literal pencil pressed to literal paper, and He wants me to share some of these ideas with you.  So, I will do my best to avoid filling this place with non-profound things--your time is far more valuable than to be spent reading selfish ramblings.