Year Round

Year Round

"A fire shall always be burning on the altar, it shall never go out."
Leviticus 6:13

Driving down Route 14 on our annual visit to Seneca Lake, an incredibly picturesque lake in Upstate New York, we would see quite an assortment of homes and cottages along the way. They ranged from small summer cottages occupied from Memorial Day to Labor Day each year by vacationers, to year round homes where residents of nearby Geneva could enjoy the benefits of lakefront living while working in the city or at nearby Hobart and William Smith College.

I was reminded of those well-kept, year round homes as I thought about this year's Thanksgiving holiday where time spent with family giving thanks for God's many blessings on our lives is all too quickly being forgotten as people transition to the hype of Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the entire year. The stark contrast of the two days reminded me of the importance of not just celebrating Thanksgiving Day, but of living a life of thanksgiving throughout the year.

The degree of our thankfulness is seen in so many ways. Matthew 12:34 says "for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks". Beneath the surface of our words is the attitude of heart generating them. We can start by making sure that we are speaking thankfully with our words expressing our gratitude for the many, untold blessings in each of our lives.

We can also serve thankfully, give thankfully, and worship thankfully, all expressions of our true perspective on what we have in our lives and on the source of those blessings. A thankful person looks for opportunities to give back, instead of always wanting more and more to satisfy their desires. A thankful person serves others out of a sincere appreciation for the undeserved grace God has bestowed on them. And worship out of a thankful heart is passionate, sincere and intimate, focused on the Lord from whom all blessings flow. It is a heart that realizes that all we have we have received from the Lord.

Some of the year round homes on Seneca Lake are so beautiful; from the well manicured lawns to the porches and decks providing breathtaking views of the lake, they are homes we would all be happy to live in. And the same is true of a life lived thankfully; it's a life that is noteworthy, it's a life to be envied, it's a life worth living year round!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church