“God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” (I John 4:9-10 NLT)
Last week I wrote a meditation that had a word count of close to 800 words. I like reading all the responses I receive and how individuals internalize the meditation. The particular meditation I’m referring to was entitled “Expect Tests.” One particular response summarized my 800 words in 8 words: “Expect tests. Execute faith. Excel in spiritual excellence.” When you look at the comparison, 800 vs. 8, you see the relationship behind laboring and learning. That could be a meditation in itself; “The Relationship Between Laboring and Learning.” We will put that one in storage for another time. For actually, today, I want to give you a Thanksgiving Day assignment. Now, you will have to use only a few words; not 800 words and not even 8 words! This assignment will require that you personally ensure that five words, important words are incorporated, included in the Thanksgiving Day prayer at your gathering place. Here’s the assignment. Think of it as if you have been duly deputized as one of His disciples, which in fact you have.
The assignment is one you must do; it’s mandatory if for some reason a certain five words are omitted in the prayer offered in earnest in the name of the Master, before the meal! If that is the case fulfill this assignment! Do this assignment even if you have to tell everyone to bow their heads and touch elbow to elbow again after the one who leads the family in prayer says, “Amen” – if necessary! Do this if these grateful, thankful five words have not been expressed already, prior to the pushing to pile up food on those perfect, pretty, plastic holiday plates! Do this if you must, before that one relative; you know who I’m talking about, the one who takes off from the prayer circle like it’s a track meet 100 yard dash, takes one step! Do this, right before the commencing of consuming more calories in one meal than one normally eats over a span of a few days starts! Put everyone on pause and say, “We left something very important out of the prayer.” Then take the lead and say: “Thank you Father for Jesus!” Then, and only then, undo the pause button and permit everyone to go and enjoy the food and the fellowship that they have been blessed with from above! Oh you can gobble until you are glad, but if the five words you speak as an addendum to the first prayer causes someone, some “whosoever,” a person who does not know Jesus to come to Him, not only you will rejoice, but heaven will rejoice right along with you! “Thank you Father for Jesus!” Be blessed!
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16 KJV)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King