Giving Thanks for a Sweet Spot
Written by Dan McDonald
When things are going well we are
tempted to be silent, for we know how quickly things can change and the one
enjoying life soon becomes the one tested by life. I am aware of that and am a
bit frightened by the sentiments I am describing as I type out words on my
computer. But as much as I recognize that my next season might be one of
testing where I am discouraged I feel as if I would dishonor God whose
graciousness I feel I have especially known in the beginning weeks of this year.
I know that days of testing, and dark days might well be ahead, for our Lord is
glorified when we remember that though we change continually, the day and the
night is both alike to him. So while one experience is more joyous to us, our
love is shown as much when we groan in the dark looking to him as when we
rejoice with song when all is well. There are times when it is enough that we
know that to him the day and the night are alike and we are in his hands. For
any reader who might be experiencing the darkness of night, your experience while
perhaps bitter reveals no less love from the God who knows both the day and the
night as my own. But the opening days of this year have been some of my most
enjoyable in life and I will give God thanks for this.
My joy is in how for the opening
days of this year I have found myself more consistent in my Christian life in
certain areas than I have generally found myself in years. I want to encourage
others in this, for I have seen improvement in areas where I haven’t seen
improvement in most of my life. I chose a focal keyword for 2016, but to be
honest it is the same one I chose in 2015 and did not see much change. My
keyword has been “organize”. Whatever aspect of life you might think of, it is
an aspect of my life that needs better organized, whether we are speaking of my
household, my time, my giving of myself to work and interests. I cannot explain
it, except for God’s grace but he has moved me to be able to think through
things in a way different than I often have. I hope that his grace moving me
after years of not seeing a lot of change might encourage some who struggle for
growth in grace in areas where the struggle seems difficult. Don’t lose hope.
Pray, plan, struggle, confess, press onwards, and our gracious Lord will see
and hear your desires. I have noticed some changes in my thinking that have
gone along with this season of blessing.
One change of thought that has
characterized my thinking in these days is that our pursuit of godliness needs
to be pursued despite facing obstacles. I explained it this way on my Facebook
page.
I would also confess that turning
sixty probably had something to do with that. In my family, most of the men
pass away by the time they are in their mid-seventies. So turning sixty brought
to my mind, that my years are no longer guaranteed. They never were, but the
sense of that has moved me. This experience has not been one without joy. On
the contrary, I have realized that God is gracious in granting us life, but
life is so easily wasted on emptiness, disappointments, personality clashes,
and a simple failure to live so as to seize the day and enjoy it in God’s
presence. Part of my setting out to better organize life is to read, see movies,
engage with people around me, dream of new experiences and pursuits, and to
wonder what God will have me do in this new chapter of my life. Viewing my life
as possibly in my final days is sobering but not discouraging. I am hopeful
that the final chapters of my life might be some of my finest and most useful
days. A petition from the family section of the Book of Common Prayer has been
put on my heart. The petition is “O merciful God, confirm and strengthen us;
that, as we grow in age, we may grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.” I am hopeful that as I have grown in age, I
might have grown and will continue to grow in grace to make my final years my
finest years.
I have been a bachelor throughout my
years, and have never had children of my own. I suppose in some ways, by never
marrying I never really grew up. So when I see young people I remember those
years and want to be able to offer encouragement to them. I am learning not to
give advice as much as encouragement. Trust in the Lord and he will guide you
and lead you into his ways and you will grow in grace and wisdom as the years
unfold. One of the things that I have thought about in these days is how much I
want to be an encouragement to the younger people who in so many instances seem
to be struggling. But that is the way of all beginnings. Every good thing worth
pursuing has obstacles and struggles before they are achieved. So rather than
offering you words I hope that I can encourage you by finishing the race well
so that when I have finished you will receive the baton of the Christian life
and know the Lord will provide. I posted a thought about this on Facebook also.
Finally I
have to admit that during this time, I have been encouraged by reading the work
by Richard J. Foster entitled Celebration of Discipline. The book was
recommended to me many years ago by the Rev. John Boonzaaijer. I never got around
to reading it until now. I saw it in a bookstore and remembered my old pastor’s
recommendation and bought it and started reading it. If you imagine a book
about discipline being gritting your teeth until you get a blessing, then you
have a wrong view of this book. The author has written a book about how grace
is worked out through the means of grace, where God in his graciousness meets
us as we seek him. It is a work full of grace. I love the simple chapters that
are so wonderfully written to encourage us in pursuing intimacy with our God.
For my closing I will show a photograph of the table of contents to this
wonderful book. In each chapter the author shows how these disciplines can be understood
as the means by which God brings us to freedom and joy and liberation in
accordance with his desire to redeem and reclaim for us life abundant and life
eternal.
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