Thanksgiving is 2 1/2 weeks away. It is quickly getting cooler and cooler. The nights longer and longer. Fall...it's my favorite time of year. For me, it's my time to reflect with God on all that we've done, to snuggle with him indoors with my family, and to enjoy the memories we make every day as Thanksgiving and Christmas approach ever so fast.
My family's heart is to bring those on the outside to the inside. This concept is especially important to me. I've always had the internal stigma that I'm the outcast; that I'm always the one on the outside looking in. I've always had very few friends, close friends who truly know me. And our culture and society is so geared towards "love" and "friendship" and "good times" that it is very difficult to struggle with having few to no friends and see "everyone" (Facebook, texts, email, etc) enjoying great community. Perhaps most of the friendship and love seen in community online is a facade or not genuine; however, it doesn't take away from the reality that we all were meant for deep, rich community with one another. A community that is a family. A family of God.
My family is working to solve this problem. We have such a heart for the outsiders. For those left out in the cold. From babies to puppies, we desire for all to be in the warm living room, sitting around the fire, in our God's house. This is what was meant to be. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says God put eternity in our hearts. He put what we could have with him in heaven in our hearts now to draw us to him. This is why we desire family and friendship as much as we do. Because it's the way we are meant to live forever in the house of our God.
And this is the 2nd great commandment. To love your neighbor as your self. Take a look at CNN's Freedom Project, which was developed to help end modern day sex slavery at http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/ There is darkness. There are many out in the cold, suffering horribly there. Sex slavery is just one of millions of areas of terrifying evils in this world. How can we respond?
1) Pray. It's true for the saying there is nothing more powerful than prayer. It's true because God is God and all things are his. How can we expect to overturn such darkness we enconter without God's intervention?
2) Get involved. Do something to end evil, to end the cold for one heart. Whether its donating to something like http://www.ijm.org/ or taking that phone call in the middle of the night from a friend who is desperate to talk, or giving up an hour of your time and serving in children's ministry each week to play with some kiddos, do something that your heart responds to. From doing that you will exercise out your faith and fulfill the Jesus' commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. (We just adopted a rescued puppy from Central OK Humane Society; http://www.okhumane.org/ They still need lots of adoptions and lots of foster parents; and those dogs and cats are God's as well. Plus, there are a lot of children in our society who have no family. Ever thought of that?)
3) Be thankful for what you have. God died for us. Through his pain and sacrifice and love, he got something great. He got us forever. He got a love worth fighting for. And we are so thankful for that. What else has he given you in your world that had to be fought for with him?
4) Find your heart's desires in God. Perhaps the biggest one for everyone is love, romance, marriage. While there is much more I'd love to write about this one, the simplest way to say it is: God desires to be your Lover. Think back to Ecclesiastes 3:11 and your heart's own desires. It's why the desire for a Love above all is so strong. It is a desire for God's love, embrace, hand in marriage. It's why he says in the day that he returns he will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride (Isaiah 62:5) and that Adam becoming Eve's was actually a reference to us and Jesus (Ephesians 5:32). If this idea is a little uneasy to you, it was to me at first as well. But it's true. Jesus desires us to be his beloved. It's why earthly romance parallels worship as its number one rival - because it imitates it so well. Worship is meant to be a romance between us and God, not just singing during Sunday services. And from love with Jesus, will flow an unending well of love to save the lost here.
We hope the most wonderful of times of Thanksgiving for you and yours during this time of Fall. Go bring someone out of the darkness and into God's family during this time. They will never forget it, and neither will you or God.
In God's family.
