Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Green Jeans were a huge part of my
life as a child. For most of those years it was broadcast in black and white.
Imagine my surprise seeing that the farmer did indeed wear green jeans! Captain
Kangaroo taught kids my age the importance of those magic words, “Please” and “Thank
you”. Although the show itself is long
gone, I asked my own children, “What’s the magic word?”
Teaching words that get a right response is good for kids.
Although the words themselves are not really magic, it is important to teach
children to be thoughtful and thankful.
Words are important and words do make a difference. How we speak to one
another, how we respond to one another is really an attitude of the heart.
God loves to hear from His children. We love to hear from
God. He has given us an entire book of words to teach us the right way to live,
to respond to Him and to one another. He’s given us His heart wrapped up in a
book. We can know His mind and we can
know how to respond.
I don’t know about you, but when I forget to be thankful to
Him for everything, in everything and in spite of everything, my attitude is
left wide open for grumbling, murmuring, complaining and finding fault.
Thankfulness puts the dew on the otherwise dry fields of
discouragement. It puts the petals on the rose that would otherwise just be a
thorny situation. It takes the lemons in life, sour situations we don’t want to
go through, and makes them drinkable. Thankfulness takes the problem out of my
hands and hands it back to God. It acknowledges that although life can be oh so
hard, our God is oh so merciful. He is oh so much wiser than us. His ways are higher than our ways and
thankfulness is an act of worship to the One Who really holds everything in His
hands.
What are you facing this morning? What are you searching for
to fulfill your life? What is lacking? Are you in a hard spot? Are you at a
bend in the road and the only choice is to go on with nothing to show for it?
Life can be hard. People make decisions that affect us. We have to choose not
just the road we take but whether we want to live in God’s light or try to
muster up our own. We have to choose
this day whether we are going to believe God and give thanks or deny God and
murmur and complain. I have to make that choice and sometimes I choose wrong.
Whenever we choose to murmur and complain instead of giving thanks we never
arrive where God wants us. Thankfulness is the only way to find joy, have peace
and rest in His promises. Although
thanking God is not a magic word, it is a sacrifice to God. It says, Lord, You
are good and I trust You regardless of what I see with my eyes.
Oh beloved, open up God’s Book of Love this morning and
read! Every promise of God is yours. Every outcome of your life will work
together for good. Every hurtful situation will be redeemed by His glory. Every
attitude changes into gratitude when you take His word for truth. Applying
thankfulness to all things will gladden your heart and strengthen your resolve.
You can make it beloved, because God is with you. You can get through it beloved,
because God is going before you. And you can give thanks no matter what because
you know God is greater than any problem you encounter.
Give thanks this morning that, no matter what, God loves you
and He’s for you and that’s all that really matters!
I Thessalonians 5:18 Be thankful in all
circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 5:20 And give thanks for
everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 4:6 Don’t worry about anything;
instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He
has done.
Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert
mind and a thankful heart.
Psalm 50:14 Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows
you made to the Most High.
Colossians 2:7 Let your roots grow down into Him, and let
your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you
were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
