Grateful – warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; thankful; expressing or actuated by gratitude (Dictionary app)
It’s November and I am seeing lots of people posting about what they are thankful for. I think many of my friends have taken up the challenge to post something every day that they are thankful for. This is a wonderful exercise and discipline for this month and time of year. Showing kindness and random acts of kindness seem to also be popping up. I think people are tired of being angry, annoyed, sad, removed from parts of society (aka locked down), and now are breathing relief from all that has transpired in the past couple of years.
A sign of this relief is playing out in social media. I’m glad to see that happening. I hope you are as well. Perhaps a positive outcome is that there is a readiness to move forward. In my last blog, I wrote about the ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ in life and that if we never experienced these what would life be like? Mostly boring, I think!
This past week there were two significant events on the Christian church calendar. The first was Reformation Sunday (the last Sunday in October). In 1517 Martin Luther began a movement of reforms when he nailed his 95 theses to the door of the chapel at Wittenberg, Germany. Thus began the separation of the church from Rome and developed into what became known as Protestantism.
The next day immediately following Reformation Sunday is All Saints Day.
All Saints Day (November 1) is a Christian celebration that honors all of the saints from Christian history. This day reminds us of our connection to faithful followers of Jesus Christ. How is sainthood attained? It is granted by God to those who trust Christ as Lord and Savior! Check out these references – 1 Cor 1:2; Rom 5:1; Rom 4:22-25 and 2 Cor 5:20-21![1]
Scripture tells us that we are saints – living saints – as we follow Christ and desire to be more like him. We have role models in scripture that have set examples for us. We also have family members and dear friends who also modeled a life devoted to Christ and following him. Were any of these perfect? NO! Being ‘saintly’ is not about perfection but about the intent of the heart which God knows intimately.
Hebrews 11 is often referred to as the “Hall of Faith” passage in the Bible. There we read of several faithful people who were not perfect but by faith trusted God. The Bible is full of stories of faithful ‘saints’. Some of my favorites are Deborah, Rahab, Hannah, Mary, and Martha. These women especially trusted God to do extraordinary things despite circumstances. Who are your favorites?
Those who exhibited Godly qualities in my life have been many. I recall the elderly lady, we knew her as Mrs. Sims, who babysat my brother and me when we were very young. She would not let my parents pay her. She did it because she loved us and saw it as a service to her pastor (my father) and his family.
There were a few women who be-friended me as a young adult living on my own. One would frequently invite me to open her garage freezer and help myself to whatever I wanted. She knew the difficulties of learning to live as a young single who struggled to pay rent! Another opened up her home to me every Wednesday night for dinner before choir rehearsal at church. It was a standing invitation as I drove to the church from where I lived. They demonstrated how to use the gifts that had been given to them by God. Their example has helped shape me.
I also can look back at my own family and those who are no longer on this earth but lived lives here that were not perfect but faithful. Grandparents, great-grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles. Remembering the parts of their lives when they demonstrated their faithfulness to God and not the mistakes they may have made, is what is encouraging to me. Seeing even through their failures and imperfections that they loved God, sought forgiveness, and strove to follow him is still an important model for me. I am, and will always be grateful, and thankful, for these examples.
As we go through this month of Thanksgiving may we reflect and give thanks to the One who is the Giver of all good gifts. May the gifts that he gives freely to each one of us be shared in extraordinary ways so that others will see and know that we are followers of Christ (his saints!).
[1] Christianity.com/church/church-history/all-saints-day-November-1.html
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