Today is Day 6 of a month of gratitude!
Homework: Dig Through Some Treasure
“Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” -Luke 2:51-52
As God’s people we are wealthy in so many ways. We have all been storing treasures in our hearts throughout our lives in the form of memories. Your memory if a power gift from God that allows you, at will, to transcend today’s routine and travel back in time. Today’s Gratitude Homework is to go back to your earliest memories and pray through your life in chronological order giving thanks to God for blessings you’ve rarely considered.
This will take some effort as, for many of us, it has been easier to re-live childhood pain and disappointment than pleasure and blessings. Go through the years and say thank you to God. Re-experience your conversion. Paint as vivid a picture as you can manage.
My earliest vivid memory is our house on New York City’s Staten Island. It was my third Christmas and I was a month from being four years old.
I remember my baptism on December 16, 1984. I was nervous and happy. I had a best friend at church visiting that Sunday who would become a Christian himself a few months later.
I remember first becoming a Bible Talk Leader at Boston University under Scott and Lynne Green’s leadership. Steve Chin (pictured) was a big brother and best friend showing me how to lead and love my small group. I could go on and on, but I won’t. It’s your turn.
Have fun growing in gratitude today. Hope this helps. See you tomorrow.
-Jay Kelly (and the Staff of the Seattle Church of Christ)
3 comments:
Oftentimes at work I wait for my computer to finish completing a task. To avoid the awkard silence I converse with my guest by asking simple questions like, what brings you to town, where are you from, and do you have any friends or family in Seattle. If I have visited the city or state where theY live I will tell a relatable story. In fact yesterday I had a guest check in to the hotel from Tampa,Florida. Growing up I visited Tampa several times, so I would tell them about my visits.
Today however I focused on thanking God for all of my incredible memories. What an inspiring prayer it was. It brought up memories that I had long forgotten. Like a time when I was about 7 years old and got to walk to the market with my grandpa where he bought me some candy. A good memory that I hadn't thought about in over twenty years.
Jay I am grateful for your creativity as it pertains to coming up with topics for your blog.
What a great idea, digging through treasure! Putting painful childhood memories aside and just focusing on the blessings is a great exercise in gratitude.
My earliest memories are of my dad, who was a high school teacher and counselor and how proud I was to be his kid and being able stay up late on Fridays and go to football games all bundled up and loud noisy basketball games when was 3 and 4 and some of my dad's students that would pick us up and carry us around.
I am blessed to have my early friendship and courtship with Steve chronicled by masses of letters and cards (6 or 7 years of pretty consistent writing).He was so encouraging to me when life seemed pretty bleak. I love to go back and read them and fall in love all over again.
I remember studying the bible with other women who were just like me - moms with kids the same age, but who had this key to life that I didn't understand and the point at which the 'scales fell from my eyes' and then the subsequent urgency to be made right with God. My baptism was in a jacuzzi in the Boston Church office and I remember wanting to stay down and get really scrubbed clean - and Elizabeth, age 2, shouting "all clean!" when I came up out the water. Everyone was laughing, cheering and crying at the same time - that was a great day.... The blessings since that day are too many to count.
Thanks Jay!
WOW! I am sooo happy and grateful that I stumbled upon a tweet in Twitter that led me here. I'm not sure who it was, because I couldn't find it again to make an ID. Jay, I'm so glad you're doing this series on gatitude. I, myself have been on a journey of gratitude and improving my relationship with God. He gives us so many things to be grateful for that we take for granted then wonder when He's going to give us something to be grateful for. All we need to do is look around. I had a rough childhood and an even worse adulthood without gratitude for much of anything. Even so, as I look back through my life, I see people, places, and things that I am now very grateful for, but I am especially grateful for the love of God. I am grateful for the problems and challenges that have allowed my patience to grow and have given me the character I now have that makes me appreciate today and every day NO MATTER WHAT. I truly respect and am grateful for the message of James 1:2-4. I will be following your gratitude blog all month and doing the homework with you. What a blessing this is. Please check out http://toms-grateful.blogspot.com/ . Thank you and have a blessed day. Tom in Denver
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