Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving so it is a day to give thanks (sorry if that is stating the obvious). However, giving thanks is important as it is possible to let your troubles and things that you are naturally not thankful for dominate your thoughts and feelings.
I have noted in the past that Philippians 4: 4-9 is a good scripture
passage at these times of thanksgiving. It begins, “Rejoice in the Lord
always; again, I will say, Rejoice.” Whenever I hear that passage, I
cannot help but hear the beautiful aria from Handle’s Messiah play in my
head. I do restrain myself from breaking into an attempt to sing it out
loud, at least in public.
One of the beautiful aspects of the Messiah is that the text is taken
from the King James Version of the Bible. In the NRSV the next verse is
‘Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God’. The words that come
to me however, are from the KJV, ‘Be careful for nothing; but in every
thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made
known unto God’. It does, after all, seem easier to remember song lyrics
than prose passages.
For me, ‘Be careful for nothing: resonate much differently than “Do not
worry about anything.” Putting aside the beauty and poetry of the phrase
'' Be careful for nothing”, the phrase has a deeper and more profound resonance
and meaning. It is interesting that Word prompted ‘be careful for’ and
suggested I might use ‘careful about’, or ‘carful with’, or
‘careful of’. None of those are appropriate which is not surprizing but
then either is ‘do not worry about anything’.
‘Be careful for nothing’ does not mean that I should not take care or be
careless―even though I’m sure Lorna would agree, if asked, that I can be
careless about some things at times. I understand it to mean that I
should not let anything interfere with my giving thanks to God in all
things. I do not say that I give thanks to God for all things. I am
not able to go that far but, rather, I try and give thanks to God in all
things. The trial and tribulation and slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune that life presents to me are not necessarily sent by God in my
theology. They can be a challenge and sometimes overwhelming, but I give
thanks that God is with me on my journey in the good times and the not so good
times and even when times are downright bad.
Therefore, on this (Canadian) Thanksgiving Monday, “Be careful for
nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known unto God.”
May you be blessed this day and every day on your journey.
One evening, I was viewing sunset in the company of an atheist acquaintance who frostily demanded to know why I thought I needed God in the presence of such beauty. I angered him by replying that I pitied him and his kind because they had nobody to say 'thank you' to.
ReplyDeleteIn Path of Exile, if players want better items, they can also use POE Currency to get the POE Items they want.
ReplyDeleteAttached link: https://www.poecurrency.com/