Broken Thanksgiving
Are we thankful? Are we really thankful for the people and the things in our lives? I know I struggle with this issue of being Thankful. Yes, it is easy to be thankful for the big things but then so easy to lose that joyful spirit when things get tough.
I love this verse: Give thanks to the Lord because He is good, because His faithful love lasts forever. Psalm 118:28-29
It is comforting to know that God’s love lasts forever…it isn’t dependent on me or my behavior. A special person that I feel honored to consider a friend wrote about breaking away from her addiction and learning to look towards Christ. My first thoughts were of course that I was thankful that she was able break the addiction and that she found her strength in Christ. Then I got to thinking about her story a little more.
Don’t we all have addictions of one form or another? Don’t our addictions become idols in our lives? Doesn’t the scriptures teach about idols and how we are not to be focused or to give them a high place in our lives?
Idols equal Addictions. Addictions can then be anything that keeps us from being the servant of Christ. Oh, a wake up moment. I’ve never thought about me having an addiction. I mean, I don’t do illegal drugs or consume vast amounts of alcohol, so that would mean I don’t have any addictions right?
Well, what about being overweight? Can food be an addiction? I would have to say that it can. I was raised in the South. We had food celebrations for everything. If you won something – granma made you a special meal with all your favorite dishes. If you lost a game or failed a test – granma made you cookies or a cake to make you feel better. Birthday? Wedding? Funeral? Graduation? Holiday? Oh yeah – you could count on more food than you should have eaten over an entire weekend being offered in a single meal.
As I became an adult, I self medicated myself with food because well, drugs and alcohol were two things that I had been told all my life were bad. I didn’t want to be considered bad but I didn’t have the coping skills to deal with things that happened in life. So I struggled with my weight and feelings of failure for years. It wasn’t until I grabbed the cross with all my heart, mind and strength that my life started to turn around. No longer was my day all about what was wrong in my life. My focus became based more on eternity. Even my parenting decisions were based on how this decision would be reviewed 10 years from now. Was it something that would keep one of my children out of Heaven? If it wasn’t, then it was more of a learning lesson and not a spiritual one.
As I began to look to Christ for my self worth and comfort, I was able to accept differences in people and in their decisions. I now use the THINK method when approaching a problem.
How are you doing this Thanksgiving weekend? Are you struggling with the addictions of this world? There is a better way…there is a way that is full of joy, peace and comfort in knowing that you are loved NO MATTER WHAT! How awesome is that?
Please reach out to someone, don’t feel you are alone. As in the words of my friend Sylvia Lange… when it’s all said and done, grace is what mattered to determine my destiny, not works.
Leave a Reply