Devotional 3-20-13

Giving and Receiving Thanks
Psalm 118 (NIV): “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”

Most of us are not good at saying “thanks” for the things and people who bless and enrich our lives. Yes, we do say ‘thank you’ for some special gift; and yes, we manage to say grace before meals. But how many times are those words said out of convention, not true gratitude. Americans today are too self-absorbed to live in gratitude.

Did you know that the lyrics to the song “I did It my way” (made famous by singers Frank Sinatra, Celine Dion, Elvis Presley and Luciano Pavarotti, to name a few) got more than 8.5 million hits on You Tube? This song should be nominated as a theme song for the mythical self-made man- or maybe the self-proclaimed atheist. You know, the person who thinks (s)he can navigate life by himself, relying only on himself; and believing that “following the green line to economic security” will get him to a full and joyful life.

This song strikes a chord because it says he did it all “my way”: alone, by himself. He never recognized God’s grace at work in his life. He never understood God as the source of his strength and resolve. And now, at the end of life, he can only boast that he took the journey and all its ups and downs, by himself.

Contrast that to our psalmist who declares outright (v.5) “In my anguish I cried to the Lord and he answered by setting me free. The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.” (v.8) “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. All the nations surround me, but in the name of the Lord I cut them off.” (v.14) “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” (v.17)”I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done”.

As we contemplate Jesus’ journey to the cross, let us be reminded that Jesus was never alone on his journey. Thanks be to God!

*Prayer: “ In the coming weeks, O Lord, I will be able to see again how much you indeed love me. Let these weeks become an opportunity for me to let go of all my resistances to your love and an occasion for you to call me closer to you. Amen.”

* P.67, “ A Cry for Mercy: Prayers from the Genesee” by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Text of the entire prayer by Henri Nouwen:

Dear Lord, show me your kindness and your gentleness, you who are meek and humble of heart. So often I say to myself, “The Lord loves me,” but very often this truth does not enter into the center of my heart. The fact that I get so easily upset because of a disappointment, so easily angered because of a slight criticism, and so easily depressed because of a slight rejection, shows that your love does not yet fill me. Why, otherwise, would I be so easily thrown off balance? What can people do to me, when I really know that you love me, care for me, protect me, defend me, guide me and support me? What does a small—or even a great—failure mean, when I know that you are with me in all my sorrows and turmoil? Yet time and again I have to confess that I have not let your love descend fully from my mind into my heart, and that I have not let my knowing grow into real, full knowledge that pervades all of my being. In the coming weeks, O Lord, I will be able to see again how much you indeed love me. Let these weeks become an opportunity for me to let go of all my resistances to your love and an occasion for you to call me closer to you. Amen.

Dorothy Turner-Lacy