I have in my library a book on the prayer life of Jesus. I bought it because it
was my intention to do a series in here sometime on what we call "The Lord's
Prayer." I've not, in case you haven't noticed, yet done that series. I can't seem to
feel that I've yet grasped enough of the essence of that prayer to talk about it. It
is like one of my seminary professors described the Twenty-Third Psalm: "It is
shallow enough for a child to safely wade in it yet deep enough that not even the
most experienced diver can plum its depths."
The Sinking of the Titanic
Have you got your Christmas shopping done? There is something so delicious
about having all of the cards sent and gifts bought well ahead of time so the days
of the Christmas season can be enjoyed for themselves and we aren't distracted
by fretting and scurrying about.
Here is a neat idea for a gift. (Here I show the Olympus Digital Voice
Recorder). This is a digital voice recorder that I carry with me most all the time.
When you get to be my age - or maybe it happens to everyone - you'll have the
absolutely brilliant ideas or something essential you need to do or a piece of
information you absolutely don't want to forget pop into your head only for it to be
gone some short time later, lost in some seldom used and never to be visited
again corner of your mind.
First, You Have To Get His Attention
One of the highlights of my young life was getting to spend time at my
grandfather's farm. Actually, it wasn't a farm. It was more than that. When I was
first conscious of my times there, just as a small child, it was to me an amazing
place. The nearest telephone was fourteen miles away. There was a creek that
ran next to the place. A foot log carried you across the creek to a sawmill that my
grandfather ran. Next to the sawmill was a sugar cane press, pulled by a mule
when it was used, to squeeze the liquid out of sugar cane so my grandfather
could make molasses.
An Attitude of Gratitude
grateful. I hope you brought some experiences and/or reasons for your gratitude.
You'll have a chance to share.
Let me begin here: One of the principles of Ordinary Life is - "we have a moral
obligation to be happy." Whether you agree with this or not, whether you think it
is even reasonable in our world and time, let me connect happiness - by which I
mean a kind of deep and abiding joy - to gratitude.