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Pastor's November 2011 Message |
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FINDING HAPPINESS Awhile back, I read an article by Roy Borges entitled, “Contentment and Thanksgiving.” In it was a phrase that caused me to pause and ponder. The phrase went like this, “Thankfulness is a song in which joy thrives.” As I thought about that phrase and, as I thought about our universal desire to experience joy – to be happy, another phrase came to my mind. Contentment is the ground from which the delicate flower of happiness can grow. At the end of this month we will enjoy another Thanksgiving celebration. I pray that you will give yourself the time, along with your family, to reflect on God’s goodness in your life. I hope that you will take the time to identify His gifts of grace including those things that are special to us as well as the everyday things that we take so much for granted. Thanksgiving usually marks the countdown to Christmas as all the stores seek to outdo each other in promoting all the ‘things that we need’. The advertisers’ goal is to stir within us a powerful desire to buy, buy, buy! The message is that we will not truly be happy until we have…Of course the message is not true. Happiness is not based on all the things that one has. There are some who have all kinds of things, in fact, the best things that money can buy, but they are not happy. The message is a trap. The reality is more like the old adage that says, “The more you have the more you want.” As we enter the Holiday seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas, we need to continually remind ourselves that the joy we seek to have, and the happiness that we seek to give, finds its foundation in being content. St. Paul says in Philippians 4:11 “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” The fact is that no matter what our circumstances, we have Jesus who gave His life for us and walks with us each and every day. Like King David in Psalm 23, we can say, “The Lord is my Shepherd, having Him, I lack nothing.” As we make the transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas, may we move from contemplating all that our loving God has given us to pondering the best gift of all – His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And as we make that transition, may we experience all the joy that this time of the year can bring because we have found contentment in that one Special Gift.
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