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Matthew 6:25-34
It's amazing how many things we can find to stress us out, even at Thanksgiving. Or maybe, for those who are responsible for cooking for a large family or those who are entertaining relatives, we find ways to stress out especially at Thanksgiving.
While visiting her parents for Thanksgiving, one woman found that her mother was determined to put on a traditional dinner, even though she was over 80.
After having spent the day preparing all the food, her mother was getting ready for bed. Her daughter noticed her mother had set her alarm clock to go off at 4 a.m. Her mom explained she had to turn the oven on at 4 a.m. to cook the turkey.
The daughter knew her mother's oven had a timer and asked her 80-year-old mom if she knew how to use it.
"Of course," her mother said, "but I've been getting up for over 60 Thanksgivings to turn the oven on, and it just wouldn't be the same to have the stove do it for me."
Don't you suspect her mom didn't really trust the timer on the oven? She would worry if she personally didn't check to get the turkey started on time.
Do you know a worrier like that?
There is an old Irish poem by an unknown author that goes like this: "Why worry? In life there are only two things to worry about: Whether you are well, or whether you are sick. Now if you are well, you have nothing to worry about. And if you are sick, you only have two things to worry about: whether you get better, or whether you die. If you get better, you have nothing to worry about. And if you die, you only have two things to worry about: whether you go to heaven, or whether you go to hell. Now, if you go to heaven, you have nothing to worry about. And if you go to hell, you'll be too busy shaking hands with your friends that you won't have time to worry. So why worry?"
The word "worry" comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning to strangle or to choke. While we need to be attentive to life's concerns, worrying about them "chokes" the joy out of life. Worrying is like driving a car with one foot on the accelerator and the other foot on the brake. The wheels are spinning, a lot of rubber is being burnt, but we're going nowhere.
Or as someone has said, "Worry is like a rocking chair. It will give you something to do but it won't get you anywhere."
Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount: "Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"
A thankful heart is the perfect cure for worry. Looking back over our lives, hasn't God been good to us? Do we think the future will be any different?
One of the most appealing stories from an earlier generation is Jean Webster's "Daddy Long Legs." It's the story of a young girl in an orphanage who is befriended by a person she doesn't know. This kind stranger takes a fancy to her when she is a small child and befriends her. But he doesn't reveal his identity. Year after year the favors flow in from her unknown friend. She passes through her childhood years and all the way through college, pursuing opportunities provided to her by a friend whose name she doesn't know.
One day she happens to encounter her unknown benefactor, but she doesn't recognize him. He doesn't look like she had imagined he'd look. But she finally learns his identity and loves him–her longtime unknown friend.
Isn't this a parable of our lives? We can all think of times when Christ has blessed our lives, and we weren't even aware of it, and we love Him for it.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus points out that God has been and will continue to be extremely generous toward us. In his typically down-to-earth way, Jesus tells us to look at the birds. They neither sow nor reap, yet God doesn't let them starve. If God feeds the most insignificant bird, don't you think he'll provide for us who are His very special, dearly loved, children?
Flowers don't fuss and worry over what they'll wear. God clothes the wildflowers which are here one day and gone the next with the finest and most beautiful colors. If God does that for something growing in the wild surely, he'll care for those whom He has created "a little lower than angels" and crowned "with glory and honor" as the Psalm says (8:5). A thankful heart is the perfect cure for worry.
And keeping a thankful heart keeps blessings flowing into our lives. A recent study found that people who jot down what they're thankful for each week feel more optimistic about their lives, exercise more, and even have fewer visits to the doctor than people who write down things that annoy them or even neutral events. There's something about a thankful heart that's healing to the body and the soul.
When University of Connecticut psychologist Glenn Affleck interviewed 287 people recovering from a heart attack, he discovered that people who found some positive benefit from their attack were less likely to suffer another attack within eight years. He recommends that each day we write down one or more things we're grateful for and read the journal once a week.
Dr. Joseph Murphy agrees. In his book The Power of Your Subconscious Mind he describes a man who epitomized this kind of outlook on life. He says: "A number of years ago, I stayed for about a week in a farmer's house in Connemarra on the west coast of Ireland. He seemed to be always singing and whistling and was full of humor. I asked him the secret of his happiness, and his reply was: 'It's a habit of mine to be happy. Every morning when I awaken and every night before I go to sleep, I bless my family, the crops, the cattle, and I thank God for the wonderful harvest.'"
Was this farmer always blessed with good harvests? No, but he did consider every harvest regardless of how large or how small, a blessing. There's something about a thankful heart that seems to cause blessings to flow into life. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that worry "strangles" or "chokes" life. A thankful heart allows for blessings to flow while worry chokes them off.
Those of us who keep a thankful heart can't wait to share our blessings with others. Consider Hargy, a man with a truly thankful heart. During World War II Fred "Hargy" Hargesheimer's plane was shot down over the Pacific Ocean on June 5, 1943. Hargy parachuted into enemy territory in Papua, New Guinea. Finding shelter in an abandoned native hut, he lived for weeks on snails he found in a riverbed. Daily he recited the 23rd Psalm and reflected on the hope his faith gave him.
Natives in the area found Hargy after a month. They showed him a note written by an Australian soldier that said they could be trusted because they'd saved other pilots. They were Christians, and at great risk they protected the American pilot from capture by the enemy.
Eventually, Hargy made his way off the island by submarine. Years later, while corresponding with a missionary, he discovered his native rescuers needed a school. All on his own, Hargy raised $15,000 for a school building. That would easily be $100,000 in today's dollars. He also brought in volunteer teachers. A few years later, he built a library and clinic. Then, 27 years after his rescue, he and his wife moved to New Guinea "to say thank you [to the people of the island] in a meaningful way."
Fred Hargesheimer knew he'd lived a blessed life, so he decided to return those blessings to those in greater need than he was.
That's not the exception but the rule for those of us who are truly thankful. We want to pass on those blessings to others. But we already know that, don't we? That's why we celebrate Thanksgiving Day as a family, a community, and as a country. When we give our thanks to God for our many blessings, we long to pass on the blessings we've received. May this Thanksgiving Day find us especially thankful and ready to be a blessing to others.
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Rev. Charles Eldredge is a member of Maitland Church of the Brethren. He has a Facebook page and can be contacted by email: ce1133 @verizon.net.