Every Good And Perfect Gift

We had our annual church picnic yesterday at Lawrence Park.  Church picnics are always a good time of food and fellowship.  As a pastor it is an opportunity for me to spend time with people that I don’t always get to interact with very much.

Yesterday George (in the picture) came over and asked me about playing some horseshoes.  After I finished a conversation with another guy from our church I walked over to the horseshoe pits where a game was already in progress.  George was just standing there observing the match.  After it was over I asked him if he wanted to team up with me and he readily agreed.  I haven’t thrown many horseshoes in the past 30 years so I am pretty rusty although I will say that I throw a pretty flat shoe.  (That is very important in horseshoes!)  George is 70+, somewhat out of shape and on oxygen part-time, so I didn’t even know if he would be able to make his shoes reach the pit.  Well it turns out that George had no problem throwing that far!  Who knew?  He got a couple points here and there and got a ringer to win one match.  He and I won both our matches before everyone quit playing.  This made George and I the unofficial horseshoe champs!

Now I am a pretty competitive individual and I LOVE winning.  At anything.  So I was happy that we won our two matches.  But I was really happy for George.  What a great blessing it was for him to prove that he could still pitch with the young-er guys!  My secretaries are going to have the above picture personalized and framed so that we can give it to George.  This way he will be able to proudly display it.

Ever have a happy occasion in your life?  I’m not talking mega-events here such as marriage or the birth of children.  I’m talking regular, ordinary occasions that put a smile on your face, that make you feel good, that you share with others.  A hug from a child or grandchild, a phone conversation with a long-time friend, a compliment that we receive, an evening of fine dining, a walk with our spouse.  The fact is that we all have many such times in our lives.  Our response for these moments ought to be to give praise and thanks to God for them.  The reason why is found in James 1:19 - “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the Heavenly lights...”.  It is because all the good things that we experience in our lives ultimately come from God that we should thank Him.

In I Thessalonians 5:17 we are told “In everything give thanks.”  ‘Everything’ means in good times and bad.  My own personal feeling is that we are never going to be able to praise God in bad times if we don’t learn to praise Him in good times.  So what we need to do is to train ourselves to celebrate these little blessings.  Reflect on them.  Enjoy them.  And thank God for them.  If we can do this consistently, it will help us to develop a thankful heart - a thankful heart that will eventually be able to give thanks to God for even the tough times of life.

Lord, thank you for all the blessings You give me - especially the ones that come wrapped in ordinary circumstances.  May I learn to celebrate and savor these occasions and may my first response be to give You praise and thanks for them.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.