More thanksgiving!

Yesterday I managed to drag myself out of bed for the first service at church. Even though work starts at the exact same time every morning of the week, getting to church at 8 A.M. seems to be a nearly insurmountable task and I almost always end up at the 10:30 service.

This week I made it to early service and it turned out wonderfully because I ran into the Ns, who invited me over for lunch (along with 7 other people). We played games (Ticket to Ride, Carcassone, and Imagineif) and ate LOTS of wonderful food.

The Ns already have their house decorated for Christmas. The tree is up, the decorations are up, and we had Christmas music playing in the background all afternoon. I could almost imagine that there was snow outside as long as I ignored the fact that the front door was hanging wide open. It was probably the most Christmas-y afternoon I will spend this year and I was deeply grateful, even if it did come just three days after Thanksgiving!

That your love may abound

"And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment," (Phil 1:9 NASB)

Love is wonderful, but if it is not tempered by wisdom and discernment it can cause great harm. It is good for me to love the starving children in Africa. My emotions are good, my intentions are good, my love is good. But if I send a bunch of money to a fraudulent organization, my love has done no good. If my heart leads me to say to a woman who has just had a miscarriage, "Don't worry, you will have other children," my heart has failed to give me good direction.

These are situations where knowledge and discernment must come in. Knowledge comes from taking the time to be informed, to chose to love wisely rather than just going with what feels good or right at the moment. In addition, we must seek God and ask for His discernment because even when we do our homework it is easy to be led astray. Only God knows the entire situation and we need to look to Him rather than relying on our limited experience and frame of reference.

I have often heard people say that it isn't that complicated, just go and love people. Don't let the details and "what ifs" stop you from doing what your heart is telling you to do. There is some truth to this. We can't allow past bad experiences or fears about people's reactions stop us from doing what we know is right. However, we need to be wise with our love or it could lead us into doing our most unloving deed of the day.


"so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;" (10)

Loving wisely is not just important because of the impact it has on others- it also impacts our relationship with God and our testimony. As representatives of a God who describes Himself as loving (to the point of saying, "God is love") we need to be loving people correctly or they will get an incorrect picture of who God is. As for God Himself, it is true that He looks at the heart but that doesn't excuse us from being responsible for our actions. It is not enough to be sincere because we could still be sincerely wrong. We need knowledge and insight so that we can be sincere and blameless, "having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." (11)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have many things for which to give thanks. This morning I had no particular plans for the day except to work and run an errand or two for my room mate's birthday tomorrow. Shortly after I got to work my supervisor asked me what I was doing for Thanksgiving and when I told him that I didn't know he immediately invited me to his house. I ended up having a FANTASTIC Thanksgiving meal with some great people. Thank you, God, for your faithfulness! And thank you to my friends for taking me in.

Some other friends sent me a care package a couple of months ago with all kinds of wonderful fall goodies that have also helped me to get in the holiday spirit and keep somewhat in touch with the seasons back home. Here are the leaves spread out on my bedroom floor to imitate fall:

And here is a nifty little foam turkey. I didn't have any glue to put him together so I used cassette tape labels doubled over on themselves. Pretty slick, huh? He is sitting on top of a jar of anti-malarial medication, one of many things for which I am very thankful.

My dear mother sent me a nice email yesterday that included a verse from The Living Bible. Another of the things for which I am intensely thankful is the multitude of Bible translations that we have in English, not to mention commentaries and Bible study tools of all kinds. I'm sure I've read this verse many times before but I like how the Living Bible puts it:

"It is good to say, "Thank you" to the Lord, to sing praises to the God who is above all gods. Every morning tell him, "Thank you for your kindness," and every evening rejoice in all his faithfulness. Sing his praises, accompanied by music from the harp and lute and lyre. You have done so much for me, O Lord. No wonder I am glad! I sing for joy."(Psalm 92:1-4)