I love November – not yet Winter (though sometimes we think it’s here) and the end of Autumn in many ways! Crisp, cool air. Pumpkins and corn stalks and pilgrim regalia. The month of Thanksgiving! Sure – December brings Christmas and October brings Fall weather – but November is the month to look back with Thanksgiving and to look forward with hope (and Thanksgiving too!) It’s the month we really look into the many blessings we have had, and maybe how to be a blessing in the time ahead. It also reminds us to say THANK YOU a bit more often than we do – to God and to each other! That is really a good thing – to say “Thanks”!
I don’t know about you – but I like to hear the words THANK YOU said to me! It makes me feel good and reminds me that someone recognizes something good that I have done! When I don’t hear a thank you – even for something simple that I’ve done – I feel cheated. Example – I’ll hold the door open at a store for a person, they walk right in and don’t say a word, then I’ll sarcastically say (sometimes to myself) – YOU’RE WELCOME! We want to be acknowledged for our good actions. I wonder if God feels the same way?
We don’t say Thank You to God very often – even though His kind actions to us are way too many to even count! Sure – at Thanksgiving we tend to do a bit more saying thanks to God – but I believe God might like it if we remembered to say thanks all year long! I mean, I’ve been blessed in so many ways – Thank You Lord!
Then there’s that passage above. It kind of throws some troubles at us when we expect thanks – doesn’t it? I think of all the people at the church who do things all the time: clean up days; fixing things; cutting the grass; setting up tables and fellowship time; making meals for our shut-in folk; visiting others; teaching or helping with our children, youth or adults; praying for someone; taking out the trash at the church; sharing gifts and talents; and a thousand other things! Often we don’t say ‘Thank You’ for these many tasks. I’m thinking that no one is expecting a ‘Thank You’ (even if it is nice to hear) because of who they are doing the task for – God!
Sometimes it’s difficult when we don’t get a thank you for the good things we’ve done. Sometimes it’s difficult when we don’t get a thank you for the good things – and hard work – we put in at Summit. Yet, I guess in life and in the church, we should never forget who we are serving! One thing I’m sure of – not a one of us say thank you to God (our master) as much as we should! In life and in the church we truly are doing the work we should do!
So – if I have forgotten or ignored you, please accept my THANK YOU Summit for all that you have done for me as your Pastor! I should say thank you more often than I do, so forgive me. And God – THANK YOU for all you have done for me as your servant. I should say thank you more than I do, so forgive me. I don’t know – November just made me think about saying Thanks more often. Happy Thanksgiving! See you in church! In Jesus’ Love – Pastor Dan