Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Thankful

It's not always easy being thankful.

Today I listened to two great podcasts from one of my favorite preachers/communicators.  Ben Stuart leads "Breakaway"- a small college Bible study at Texas A & M that reaches SEVERAL thousand students every Tuesday night.  You know how they do everything big in Texas, right?

Anyway, he did two sermons in November about living in Community from 1 Thessalonians.  His last message focused on being "thankful".

He shared some remarkable statistics just about the health benefits of being a thankful person.  One study of 100 students at the University of Miami ...1/3 were told to make a list of 5 things each week they were thankful for, 1/3 made a list of 5 annoying things (complaining), and 1/3 just listed "happenings".  At the end of 10 weeks the students who counted their blessings had better grades and a better outlook on life.

The US Air Force Survival Training Program trains people to remember 2 numbers.  98.6- Core Temperature is very important.  And 3.  They say you will die if you don't get air within 3 minutes.  You can last 3 days with out water and 3 weeks without food.  You'll only last 3 months with love and attention.  But the most important 3 was 3 seconds.   You can't go 3 seconds without a positive outlook.  You're as good as dead without it.  Not an "unrealistic" outlook...but a positive- thankful- grateful- outlook.

So...a lot of friends do a 365 Album on Facebook or on their blog.  A picture a day.  Sometimes with commentary, sometimes not.

I'm doing one called Rejoice 365.  I'm going to try and post a picture and some brief commentary everyday about something I'm thankful for that day.  I need to.  I need to count my blessings because despite whatever "hell" I sometimes feel like I've been through God is still on His throne and He's never ceased to be good to me even though, outside of His grace and mercy, I don't deserve it.

I might post some of them to my blog...maybe a weekly re-cap.  We'll see.

By the way... check out Ben Stuart...you can download sermons from the website or on Itunes (http://breakawayministries.org/home).

1 comment:

Vickie (Clinton's sister) said...

Awesome... what a wonderful idea. I did a little "thank-you" book for my husband one year, from Valentine's Day to Valentine's Day, and listed one thing each day that I was thankful for about him. It was the most amazing experience. It warmed my heart toward him more than I can express to be consciously thinking on the good, and I hope that when he has days he's feeling down or less than, that he can pull his little book out and be reminded how thankful I am for him.

P.S. Speaking of... thank you for being a brother who always, always encourages and uplifts me... I love you.