Lay Down Your Guns

People are firing all around.

We fire hate, misunderstanding and ultimatum.

The blogosphere is a relatively new fuel for firing upon loudly and critically that with which we most disagree.

Disagreeing is not the problem. In fact, it is the soil of democracy.

Differences rub together to sift toward truth, and imperfect humans keep at it until compromise is framed into agreed upon action.

Blogs and their comments are a window into what people are firing.

We are losing the art of expressing opinion with thoughtfulness, countering each other with this reality:

Our opinion is only...an opinion. It is not truth, though hopefully it points toward it.

When guns of hate and condescension are embedded in our opinion, we respond to the guns, not the words.

We fire back and war ensues, with both sides potential losers.

A generation from now, will these guns so saturate our environment that a show of thoughtful opinion embedded in healing love and respect for others is irrevocably lost?

Lay down your guns. Then when you speak, we can listen.

Thanksgiving From Higher Up: Friday--In the Black

Perhaps you are shopping...or simply recovering. Yesterday was probably pretty intense, from eating to interacting to cleaning up.

In the US, we call this Black Friday because retailers generally, with the surge of today's shopping, are able put their profit status "in the black."

As opposed to "in the red," or operating with a loss.

Rather than fighting culture's tunes, let's work within.

In keeping with our look at Thanksgiving from higher up, carry with you today a review of your heart.

Are your family relationships "in the black" after your holiday gathering? Were they more positive than negative? Did you apply love to soothe over the rough spots?

Is your physical body "in the black" after your holiday eating? Did yesterday begin a loot of eating that takes off all safeguards between now and Christmas--resulting in real damage--or can you come down from the Thanksgiving high and eat calmly and well until Christmas Day?

Is your thankful heart "in the black" after your Thanksgiving experience? Did you find value this week in viewing the holiday from higher up, with an eye and a heart for searching out ways to embrace God's view and applying that never ending, overwhelming love?

Hopefully you are not left wanting, or "in the red."

God's giving is always in the black, more than we could ever receive. If you have ended Thanksgiving "in the red," shop for the most important thing today: a glimpse of God's magnificent love for you.

Be the first shopper at That Storehouse.

Thanksgiving From Higher Up: Thursday

Presumably God has a seat at your table today, and thankfulness will saturate for a few moments where on another day it might not.

So how to stretch that thankfulness into a blessing for God's heart?

Pray for all the tables where He does not have an automatic seat--He is rejected, or not known, or bashed, or cursed.

I always wonder how His heart handles that.

With more love, I'm sure. Love for the loveless.

You know, all those tables without a seat for God are inhabited by homeless people, regardless of the bounty and wealth present.

They do not know the home in their heart that is God.

Today, as we give thanks, pray for the tables who are seatless for God, homeless in heart--pray that their hearts and God's find restoration with each other.

For this privilege of prayer, we give thanks.

Amen.

Thanksgiving From Higher Up: Wednesday

Every single person in your tomorrow's circle of serving has value.

I know you only have brief seconds of thought between tasks today; ask God to bring each member of your gathering to your mind and remember what you value about that person.

Is it her kindness? His bear hug? That child's squeal of delight for life?

Every moment you spend valuing another today will build--in you--a reservoir of blessing momentum that will last far beyond the celebration.

It will feed your strength and your heart.

There is no greater sustenance than blessing momentum.

It works for your group as well. It is called the Encouragement Circle:

Ask the Holy Spirit to direct this activity. Put each person's name in a bowl, and have every member of the circle draw a name not his or her own. Allow time for everyone to think of what they value in the person whose name they drew. Share one at a time, making sure everyone is listening.

I can't explain it: a calm and peace will come over your group that is palpable and memorable. It will be what is seared into each heart this Thanksgiving. Each member of the circle will have received blessing momentum and will remember that he or she is fearfully and wonderfully made.

A glimpse of God's value that He puts on every one of us is nothing short of holy.

Thanksgiving From Higher Up: Tuesday

We are two days out and perhaps the company has not yet arrived.

This is the day to get the hard feelings out on the table, the ones with which you have wrestled for so long.

Your delicious Thanksgiving table should not be serving up these hard feelings in an undercurrent of hurt, stony silence, and/or pointed digs and barbs. God, from His seat at your table, is sure to notice even if others do not.

Hard feelings + God = Solution

Simply tell Him--today--how you feel about your extended family member, what he/she did to you, how you have tried to love in spite of the mistreatment you have endured, how you are dreading his/her arrival.

He will listen and gently invite you to hand over those hard feelings for Him to carry.

You will be free to enjoy this person with new heart and new eyes.

Beware: the space your heart had filled with these hard feelings will need to be occupied by something. Ask God to fill it with new love for this person and a safeguard in place that keeps you from traveling backwards, into the trap of hard feelings once again.

Once the hard feelings table is wiped clean, you are ready to fill it with the blessings and bounty of people you hold dear and food you love.

I'm pretty sure God will love His seat at this table.

Thanksgiving From Higher Up: Monday

Greetings to readers from other countries...thank you for joining us. As we consider Thanksgiving from higher up, apply anything helpful to holidays you celebrate.

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The adrenaline starts to flow today as you take seriously your to-do list. Whether traveling to or creating the Thanksgiving feast, your list is long.

Put wisdom at the top.

Buy it at the moment you ask God to inject an unusual amount into your view of your list, your extended family and yourself.

Take magazine perfect off your list.

The beauty of your people--your incredible, flawed, magnificent family--assembled with those added and those lost, is unique and beautiful and created in the image of God. No magazine competes with that.

Under wisdom, put the two or three things that always trip you up at the last minute and make you grumpy. Get those out of the way early this week--clean the car if you are traveling, assemble all the serving dishes if you are the host. Ask your spouse what is he/she can always count on to be your last minute panic. I call it working backwards (doing the last things first).

Finally, start a Laughter Page. Jot down everything funny that happens this week and ask God to be generous in creating moments that bring laughter to you and those you join this week. Let those moments be the ones seared into all gathered hearts, particularly those of the children.

Happy Monday.

The Driver Named Contentment

Who drives your car...Contentment or Discontent?

It is a pretty tall order to be content in today's culture. The array of things we "need" and the onslaught of adages of how we should "be" are limitless. E-commerce is really what is going on in our brain.

What shall I buy, become, believe?

The trading floor of our mind never sleeps.

But, of course, the Bible slices through it all with one sentence in Luke 14:

...if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.

It looks like God takes Content with which you drive your car and leads you to More.

So maybe our self-peddling and strife to be is unnecessary effort.

We already are.

How amazing to bask in the magnificence of who we are and leave the trading up to God.

Best Christmas gift to yourself: decide every day between now and then that you are wonderful, amazing you, and Contentment is the driver of your car.