Thankfulness

Praising God in the hallways has always been hard for  me.  My lack of patience has kept me from enjoying a lot "doing time" in them.   Just the fact I have to go through one irritates me to no end.  About a year ago I was in a long hallway stumbling around, knocking into things, grumbling because it was taking so long to get through it.  I could see the open door at the end but it seem we were stalled in the hallway.  Ugg...more waiting.

God got my attention  one day in a friends hallway.  Her walls were decorated with great pictures of her family, a beautiful picture of a tree.  Ever so sweetly the Holy Spirit said, Betty you are missing what I have for you in the hallways.  My heart said yes I know, but my hallway is not filled with pretty things such as I see in my friends.  Hers was warmly lite with shiny hardwood floors, a opening at one end leading into a beautiful family room, with a huge fireplace, double french door leading out onto a wrap around porch overlooking the green hills of Kentucky. 
Now how can one be discontent with a hallway leading into an open door like that? 

Finally my hallway came to an end, when we packed our car and drove through the open door to start a new ministry with our mission is California. I think I have told  this too in another post, my first few months were terrible. The progression went like this, hallway, open door, pity pit and discontentment spilled out on everyone who came around me.  

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”

Epicurus quotes (Greek philosopher, BC 341-270)

  This philosopher beliefs certainly do not line up with the Word of God, he was not a believer in the coming Redeemer.   Yet the one quote ring true.  We do spoil what we have by desiring what we have not...we do it all the time.  Guilty, guilty, guilty. 

Discontentment is as old as creation, God first creatures, Lucifer, the brightest star of the heavens was not satisfied with his position which caused him to lead a rebellion.  It was discontentment that made him do it.  Then he sowed seeds of discontentment in Eve's heart and the bitter harvest was the loss of paradise and the beginning of an unhappy race.  Thousands of years have passed and we are still always wanting  something different.

        If we’re young, we want to be older. If we’re old, we wish we were younger.
        If it’s old, we want something new. If it’s new, we want something newer.
        If it’s small, we want something bigger. If it’s big, we want something really big.
        If we have a hundred dollars, we want two hundred. If we have two hundred we want    five  hundred.
        If we have an apartment, we want a condo. If we have a condo, we want a house.  If we have a house, we want a bigger house. Or a new house. Or a nicer house.
        If we have a job, we dream of a better job, a bigger job, a closer job, with a bigger office, a  better boss, better benefits, more challenge, bigger opportunity, nicer people to work for,
        and more vacation time.
        If we’re single, we dream of being married. If we’re married, … (you can finish that sentence yourself.).

We Were Born Discontented...but we do not have to stay that way.  Our pastor use to say, you can't keep the birds from flying over your head but you can sure keep them from making a nest. 

Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:

 

 

I am always  and I mean always amazed how a steady diet of being thankful even if I don't feel like it will bring me out of a discontented state.  Being thankful is one of the ways to praise God. As we head into this thanksgiving season what are you thankful for...

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