Skip to main content

Rejoice

 Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (I Thessalonians 5:16-18)

I got a phone call this afternoon, a friend letting me know that my dog was at her place safe and sound. She’d torn out the window screen over my bed and squeezed out sideways, falling more than 5 feet. Since there was stuff under the window, I’m amazed she didn’t break her leg or her neck. We’re near the back gate, and the road outside the gate is busy. Fortunately, she doesn’t seem to have gone out said gate. She did this last year, with a window much closer to the ground, which is why I either put a metal grate over the window or close it and turn on the air. I never thought she could get out the bedroom window, with its jalousie windows.

So, at the moment, I’m rejoicing and thankful that she seems none the worse for the adventure, and I’m giving thanks for that and for the friends and neighbors who caught the little brat. And I’m praying, “Lord, how do I fix the window and what do I have to do to keep her from doing this again?” What I’d like to do is scream at her and beat her within an inch of her life, and somehow get it through her tiny, toy skull that she is never, ever to do that again. Remember the teacher from the Peanuts cartoons.


And, I want to say that all that is probably not what Paul had in mind when he wrote, “Rejoice always…give thanks in all circumstances. But the Ven diagram for always and all is a big circle. There are no other circles to be considered. Always means always. All means all. But we like to think that we or our situations are the exceptions. And I am rejoicing while I rant and giving thanks while I consider what could have happened.

Curiously, I had a conversation with a friend this morning about the sermon at her church. The pastor had talked about pausing when something happens, and choosing  a response instead of just going off (AKA reacting.) I also think of the things I was taught about dogs. If you don’t correct them when they’re doing something, there’s no use. Yelling at Grace after the fact won’t make her learn. Come to think of it, yelling at me before, during, or after the fact doesn’t make me learn either, though during might gain cooperation.

Of course, there’s another place where today’s passage is crucial. There are a lot of people who aren’t happy about the current administration in our government. “Rejoice always.” They say the election was stolen. “Pray continually.” They say we’re headed down a dangerous path. “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Pause to consider how to proceed, because yelling, protesting, rioting, looting, assaulting, murdering, occupying, using foul language, calling names, impeaching people – none of those things are God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Rejoice while you rant if you must. Give thanks while you consider what to do.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more