Trust in God Built One Gratitude after Another

11/14/19 • 20 min

Psalm 78 confronts us with how easy it is to speak against God and ask, “Can God set a table in the wilderness?” On the hard days we struggle to remember. It’s human. But, what if we kept a journal, like Ann Voskamp’s 1000 gifts, and on the hard days, we perused the pages and found the goodness of God printed in our own handwriting? Or what if we used a holiday primed for this, Thanksgiving, to speak the stories of gratitude into each other’s lives, to pass the goodness of God from one generation to another just like we do the mashed potatoes. This simple ritual, three kernels of corn, is our own family’s way of doing just that.

Previous Episode

The Hidden Beauty of the Human Soul

"Sometimes we get a glimpse of a soul and we want to take off our shoes.

Whether it’s looking into the eyes of the checkout clerk surprised someone truly wants to know how she’s doing or a spiritual directee who lets me see the pain underneath her socially accepted story. Like all of us, she’s become adept at holding up a whole bevy of masks. Every time she walks into our chapel for direction, she takes a while to settle, going through an awkward song and dance performing for my approval before becoming quiet and receptive to the Spirit.

What she doesn’t know is that underneath, when the Holy Spirit broods over her vulnerable story, she’s stunning. & the wrinkles and scars point to a story as deep as her words.

And then as she closes her eyes childlike, holding her face up to the light of God’s Presence I too am warmed by her light."

Read the transcript here.

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Next Episode

Drawing Near to God in the Midst of Holiday Stress

We’re headed into the holiday season, a season of feasts but also of family stress.

We’re all aware that joy rarely stands alone. We can be all over the emotional map even on Christmas morning. The older I get, the more I realize we are complex, a daily mixture of pain and joy. The question is, can we invite Jesus to walk with us in our complexities. Can we sift through the fog of our internal narratives and find Him in the nativity? There is often so much joy to be found but we can be run over by stress, by to do lists, and triggers, and we miss it all. But here’s the question: Can we stay awake to the Presence of Jesus?