Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ – THE Risen Saviour! Happy October 1st! What a beautiful autumn morning…and we are in the month of “Thanksgiving” and I challenge you to make a daily list of 5 things you are thankful for. You can start this evening, look back over your day and recall what person or event or thing that brought you delight and as a result – you are “thankful” for. If you will do that, on Thanksgiving Sunday, you will have at least 50 reasons to express thanks to God and share with the people around you. Today I will be praying for you, asking Father to give you eyes to see all that is good around you.
In the Jewish side of our ‘faith roots’, believers are celebrating “sukkot” or the “feast of tabernacles” and starting last Sunday-September 27th at sundown until sundown October 4th. Many celebrate by building a temporary shelter, with a hole in the roof so they see the sky and they will “live” as much as possible in that shelter. Life will be very simple, uncomplicated, and revealing. They will be remembering the days in the wilderness when they learned that everything is temporary…except for the God they believe in and by participating in this celebration they are passing eternal truth onto the next generation.
Perhaps I am showing my age, but I believe that we are missing so much in our modern family life because we have failed to pass on ‘eternal truth’ by not celebrating the traditions and rituals that shaped the values that we hold onto. I have watched as our society has moved further and further away from its foundational values…and it is scary. According to a recent poll, 40% of Canadians are looking for ‘eternal truth’ to build meaningful lives upon. When I think of the traditional and rituals of the Jewish people there is a rather disturbing realization that God said that these feasts and ceremonies were given as an everlasting, continual reminder of His place in our lives.
We have ‘let go’ of so much in our lives in order to accommodate this modern, freethinking world…perhaps we have let go of the wrong things. Consider these words: He (Isaac) reopened the wells his father had dug…restored the names Abraham had given them. Genesis 26:18 NLT. I believe there is a need to re-shape the values of our lives, and in doing so we may be able to influence the generations that have lost their way because no one was there to give the proper directions.
Just something to think about – have a great October “Day 1” – be blessed!