Shade Tree Wisdom 7/11/07

On Being Grateful

It’s probably going to be some 93 degrees today. I mentioned to folks that it’s really been quite pleasant all Spring. Plenty of rain and temperatures not too warm. People agree, ‘but, they say, look forward to a brutal summer and fall’.

You see. Instead of enjoying the weather we do have, we anticipate something bad to sort of offset the good. It kind of reminds me of our neighboring farmer at home. When there was a good crop year, plenty of rain, fine growing weather, good wheat and corn yield, he always – it never failed – complained that this really ‘took it out of the soil’. No such thing, of course. It was simply a blessing that we received with gratitude from God’s hand.

Our prayer daily ought to be ”Lord, thank you for this day”. Here’s another day laid before us. A day to serve Him. A Day for doing tasks that lie at hand. A Day to maybe enjoy a day away from work. A Day to rest and relax and contemplate. Or a day we can work and do something for others.

Read the psalms. They speak of disasters and hardship and of worry and stuff, but they always find their help, their hope, and their reason for being grateful in a God who is faith and true to His Word.

Our Synod meets in Convention this week, starting Saturday evening with a service. What a blessing we have in this Church of ours. A Church that still holds faithfully to the Word. And that is becoming harder and harder to do in this age of ‘compromise, political correctness, and getting along with people’. What a rich treasure is ours. Today to worship, hear God’s Word of promise, and the story of His love in sending His Son to die for us so that His blood would make the payments for our sins, and I can hear the words, “Your sins are forgiven you” and know they are real and true.

O, my friends, these are just a scattered few of the reason for having a Grateful heart. You can count them in your lives, too. God grant this to you.

GPD 7/11/07