Farming on Faith Monday

 

#morningdevotional 

#JessieGussman

#FaithOnTheFarm. 

Reprinted with permission.

Author Jessie Gussman graciously has provided her book Faith On The Farm the following is from her book. 

Gratitude is an attitude that affects everything we do.

If you're truly grateful, it changes the way you act, how you treat people, how you think. Science supports this and I believe this is why the Bible commands it.

A grateful attitude will change your life by directing your thoughts, actions and behavior. It changes how you treat others - how you treat your friends and family and strangers on the street.

It's the idea of: because God has done so much for me - and I am thankful for it - I want to do as much as I can for others.

I've seen a lot of posts and newsletters this week asking people to say what they're thankful for.

It's not that I don't think that's a good idea, because I do, but I guess my question would be more along the lines: who or what do our lives SHOW we're thankful for?

Ha. It's easy to SAY who or what we're thankful for (and that's good) but do they know it and do we show it? That's much harder.

I'm a big believer in SHOWING rather than telling. That's a buzz phrase in writing, but it's true about how you live your life.

I guess I feel like you can say "thank you" all day long, but if you don't ACT thankful, if you don't SHOW that you're thankful, they're just words.  

True thankfulness is not just giving lip service to manners.

I'm not criticizing that, exactly. I do it at times. But the Bible calls us to "be" thankful. That's a state of being, a way of living, that's more about what we DO than what we say and much more than "remember your manners, Johnny, and tell the nice man thank you."

Thanksgiving = Thanks-living

Ha. We've all heard that, right?

How do you do that thanks-living thing?

It's good to SAY "thank you" of course. But, living a life of gratitude is far more than mumbling "thanks" as you walk away from someone.

Sometimes I sit at my desk and look out my window or sit on the porch swing in the dark after everyone else has gone to bed for the night and I feel like the most blessed person in the world. Not because my life is perfect - FAR from it - but because I've been given so much more than I deserve. At the same time, it makes me want to cry - I don't deserve the blessings I've been given and I haven't done nearly enough to show God how grateful I am! I'm so very thankful to God for what He's done for me. 

I thank God daily, hourly, sometimes, but I want to live my thankfulness to God.

Live it. Show it. Practice it. Daily.

I know it pleases God when I give away what he's given to me.

This is going to blow some minds, but I figure what's the point in having a bunch of money in the bank when it could be

out in the world, making someone feel good, making them smile, helping someone?

I know, don't take your financial advice from Jessie. lol But that's actually Biblical. Ha. Luke 12:16-34. I know, this is pretty radical, but that's God for you. Radical. : )

If today were my last day (and it could be) do I want my money in the bank or do I want to have given it away and laid up the treasure in heaven? That's an easy question for me to answer.

I don't want to have anything sitting around here on earth that could benefit someone if given away. My treasure can be stored in Heaven and I can trust God to provide. (That is Bible, folks, and flies in the face of what the world tells us, doesn't it?)  

Time, possessions, money, my compassion and empathy. Everything I have and am. God hasn't blessed me with too much for me to keep it all for myself.

For me, giving these things away shows God that I'm thankful for what He's given me (because it pleases Him when we give).

And I'm not just talking about giving to charity. We can show thankfulness to the people we say "thank you" to by giving. (Thanksgiving. : )

I think telling your spouse, kids, parents, friends and co-workers that you appreciate them is great. I think showing them by living it is even better.

But that takes sacrifice and we, Americans, especially, are not good at sacrifice, especially when it gets in the way of how we want to live our own lives and what we think we deserve. We're such a selfish, narcissistic society. That's me, too.

So, how do we live thanksgiving? How do we "be" thankful?

I've already talked about giving generously. Here are a few other ideas - all Biblically based - for us to actually live what we believe. Because we do believe we should "be" thankful, right?  

Do things for people without expecting anything in return.

I'm going to admit, sometimes this is hard for me. We want recognized and appreciated for what we do, right? Sometimes it's hard to stand in the background - and I'm a stand in the background kind of gal! But, if you can let go of yourself, your ego, your desire to be first and best, if you can just focus on how what you're doing helps someone, if you can do something and just walk on with your life, imagining how surprised and happy you've made someone, it's worth it. Do it without them knowing who you are and what you've done. Do it for a stranger. Do it without being recognized. Go ahead, do something for someone else, just focusing on them and their happiness, forgetting about yourself and what you want. Try it. : )

Words of encouragement.

For goodness sake, if someone is doing a good job at something, tell them. Tell others about them. Tell them specifically what they're doing that you love. Tell them how they made you feel or share a compliment you heard about them. Why in the world would we miss an opportunity to make

someone else smile? And sharing compliments will definitely make them smile! And it's free!

If you're working with someone, lift them up.  

So often the workplace is a cut-throat, everyone-out-for-themselves kind of place. Why? Are we really that insecure that we're afraid if we make someone else look good, we'll disappear into their shadow? And so what? Do you think God doesn't see us, even in the shadows? I'd far rather be in someone's shadow because I helped them out, than because I lost a competition with them.

God knows what we do - let's live like we believe that. Live like we believe that He's the ultimate rewarder and that He'll reward us for not knocking people down in our rush to take the credit and get all the glory for ourselves.

Show your thankfulness to the awesome people you work with by giving more and taking less. It's hard. Challenge yourself. Grow. Lay up your treasure in Heaven like you really believe this world isn't your home. Help others out at the expense of yourself. Sacrifice for others.

Christians are supposed to be different. Let's live that. Live ThanksGIVING every day in every way that we can find.

Believe in someone.

Everyone has bad in them - and we can usually see it pretty easily, right? No one is perfect and imperfections stick out.

What if we ignored the bad?

I try to do this with my spouse, especially. It's not my job to fix him. It's just my job to love him. Unconditionally. No matter what.

This is much easier to do if I look for the good and focus on that. Believe he can do what he sets out to do (even if I really am not sure). Why not go all in behind him? Maybe he can't do it by himself, but with me behind him, working as hard as I can, working with him, for him, believing in him, doing everything I can to help him be successful, then...just watch him soar.

Maybe sometime I'll tell our story, but everyone who knew my husband in high school is shocked at what he is today. Maybe I had something to do with that, idk, and I don't want credit, but I'm just so grateful for what God has done for me, how can I not be his wind - unseen, unnoticed, just behind him in every way I can, lifting him up and helping him reach heights he's never dreamed of? It's fun to be wind. : ) It's more fun, of course, when someone appreciates you, but anyone can do that. Be wind for someone who DOESN'T appreciate you. Go ahead. I challenge you. Your faith will be tested and you'll find out if you really believe that God is the ultimate rewarder. That's a thankfulness challenge for a serious Christian. : ) (It will give you a MUCH greater appreciation for the sacrifice Christ made for us and how He must feel when people throw his life-saving help back in His face, refusing to acknowledge or appreciate it.) 

Sometimes I use my writing and what God has given me with that as wind. God has blessed it. Heaven knows I'm not a great writer, but God blesses my messes and I've seen a little success.

How can I not look around me and see if there are other people, authors just starting out or anyone who could use wind?

Let me show my gratefulness to God for what He's given to me and let be wind for them. That's sharing what I have, working to do things that will help, giving of my time, myself, my name, whatever I can that will help and not worried about getting anything in return, knowing God knows and that's enough. It's living thanks-giving.

I think so many times we SAY what we're thankful for - and that's great - but let's DO something.

Let's thank God for all the blessings we have by sharing them - whatever we have - in any way we can, challenging ourselves to get out of our comfortable lives, to give more, live more, share our blessings and show the people around us how grateful we are for them.