Hello all. I'm taking a little time out of my day to write this post. I haven't written anything here in a long time, and that's for several reasons. One, I've been busy (pretty much a given). Two, NANO! Three, if I do get free time from writing my novel and school, I usually have other things to waste my time with than blogging. Haha!
However, I have to post SOMETHING to keep you guys up to date. ;) Let's recap some things. By the way, this is probably going to be a long post.... :D
This week has been really good. I had a fabulous Sunday school class about giving thanks. My leader (Jeremy) talked about a timeline. It looked something like this:
-----------------/----------------/-----------------/-----------------/---------------/-----------------
Extraordinarily Hard Ordinary Good Extraordinarily
Hard Times Times Times Times Good Times
Then, Jeremy dissected what fell into these categories and how much (percentage) time of our life (for the most part) is spent around the *actual* activity. Repercussions of an event could last for years, but we just looked at the actual event.
1% E.H.T. = death, divorce
5% H.T. = financial trouble, failing a class (or being a failure at life--one guy suggested--haha!)
O.T. = (he left this one blank)
7% G. T. = having money, good grades
1% E.G.T. = marriage, birth
Jeremy asked us, how much time does that then leave us in the last slot? Answer? 86%
Most humans will spend 86% (give or take) of their lives in a regular state of living. How does that figure into our thankfulness? I shall explain.
When we are in good times, we're thankful and when we're in extraordinarily good times, we're thankful--maybe not even as thankful as we should be. Now, when in extraordinary hard or regular hard times, we may not feel like being thankful, but we as Christians know we are supposed to be thankful. So, at least we try to be thankful. What about in the ordinary times? What about those days where you get out of bed, take a shower, get dressed and go about your day. You might see some friends; you might talk to family. You'll probably use your car, too. You'll definitely eat and use the bathroom; you'll most likely use your dishwasher, sit on a chair, and turn the lights on, too. Hopefully, you'll open your Bible as well.
...See where I'm going with this?
Are we truly thankful in those "ordinary times?" Those days that take up 86% of the time God has given us on Earth? Are we thankful for that clock that tells us what time it is so we don't have to be running outside every five minutes to look at where the sun is in the sky? Are we thankful for the chair we sit in everyday?
Are we really thankful for the underwear we're wearing? And I mean, REALLY thankful? Have you thanked God for your underwear lately? I'm being totally serious right now. Stop laughing. Haha! :D
I look at my own life and find millions of things I not only take for granted hourly but don't even *think* to give thanks for. Case in point, the underwear example. I confess I have not given thanks for my underwear ever in my life. But in all seriousness, what I take for granted and am not consciously giving thanks for EVERY DAY: my house, the cars(!) that get us places before tomorrow, a house full of food, electricity, a loving family that loves me and parents that are still married after 32 years, college, and my salvation.
Of course, I could make a list a mile long with things like that, but the one that hit me the most as Jeremy was talking, was school. I think I've told *everyone* that I have 4 tests this week, 1 for each class I'm taking. I've been rather complaining about it too, thinking of "how hard" it's going to be. After Sunday school? The Lord had changed my entire attitude. Guys, I *get* to go to school. I'm allowed by God, my parents, and the government to go to college and better my education. I *get* to go to school. How many can say that? Not as many as you'd like to think.
But, Jeremy's lesson wasn't over with simply pointing out how we have to be consciously thankful every day even in those "ordinary times." He also talked about not being thankful. He pointed out so many sins that stem from not being thankful. Pride, selfishness, meanness, a general bad attitude, and even a "ho-hum" attitude. If you're focused on being thankful to God for the talents he's given to you, where is there room for pride? If you're focused on being thankful to God for all the blessings he's bestowed to you, how can you be selfish? If you're completely immersed in being thankful to God for every day, every person, and every thing in your life, then how are you able to walk around with a bad attitude? How can you help but have a grin on your face? Look how much He's blessed you with? Look how much God loves you!
Whew. Okay. I've wanted to get that out since Sunday, and I feel better having written it. Anyway, that whole thing was the back story to why this week (and only on Wednesday) has been really good. I keep thinking about the Sunday school lesson and that 86%. 86% keeps bouncing around. I would say today has been pretty ordinary. Have I been thankful today? Hmm, not as much as I could be, if at all.
I was thankful yesterday, though. I'm not saying that in a prideful way, or in a way to point you out if you weren't. I just know that I felt confident in the Lord that He would give the election to Romney. I was sure of it. Well, the Lord did not give the election to Romney, and I wasn't nearly as depressed, sad, or maybe even angry that I think I might have been. That Sun. school lesson really helped. I basically shrugged my shoulders and said, "Okay God, that's Your will. What's next?" I'm not sure if people think that sounds ignorant and like-a-teenager, but that's how I felt.
Well, I was going to write about Nano, but you guys are probably tired of reading. And, I'm really hungry. It's 1, and I haven't eaten lunch. So, I shall save all the Nano stuff for another post that hopefully will get written before December.
Oh, I shall also be posting the prologue to my novel up here. :D Please, please, puh-lease comment and tell me what you think of it. Even if you don't like it, I'd love your comments.
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:-)
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