The Thank-You Cure

When I was a kid, when the fall colors started to appear and the weather grew crisp in the Northern Hemisphere,  we began to look forward to a holiday that we in America simply call, Thanksgiving.  It was a time to celebrate God's mercies to us throughout the year and to join with extended family members and spend a weekend enjoying food and each other's company and to discover your place in a shared family lineage as the stories were piled one on top of the other and laughter and love seemed to rule the day.  

It seems as though, in our current era, we have no time to celebrate Thanksgiving, as the retailers would have us jump from Back to School Sales to Halloween Sales and then straight to Christmas.  And we have all but forgotten Thanksgiving.  Were it not for grocer's who still want to cash in on the reminiscent holiday, it would probably totally be skipped.  But the Thanksgiving holiday is not what I am trying to champion here.  While I think it is still an important holiday, I would suggest that it is what is behind the holiday that is really important.  Thankfulness.  The act of being truly grateful for what we have.  I even believe that being thankful could help us with the worry fear, anxiety and other things that we struggle with on an almost daily basis now.  Which reminds me of A. J. Cronin and a story he once wrote.

A. J. Cronin was born in 1896 in Cardross, Scotland. He was educated at Dumbarton Academy where he received baccalaureates in medicine and surgery. In 1914, he entered the Glasgow University Medical School, graduating in 1919. During World War I Cronin served as a surgeon in the Royal Navy. After the war, he worked as a ship's surgeon on a liner bound for India, and then served in various hospitals. In 1930, his health broke down and he turned to writing as a profession. In 1931 he produced his first novel, "Hatter's Castle," which became an immediate success. He followed it with several best-selling books including "The Citadel," "The Stars Look Down," and "The Keys of the Kingdom." 

Once Cronin told about a colleague who gave an unusual prescription to patients afflicted with worry, fear, discouragement or self-doubt. The doctor called it his thank-you cure. "For six weeks I want you to say thank you whenever anyone does you a favor. And to show you mean it, emphasize the words with a smile." Within six weeks most of the doctor's patients showed great improvement.

Are you down to try it?  As you consider your answer, here are a few other things to think about.

"Gratitude is born in hearts that take time to count up past mercies." - Charles E. Jefferson

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." - Colossians 2:7

"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Giving thanks should not be a once a year event. Nor does it necessarily need to be smothered in food and feasting.  Rather, it should be practiced daily for all the blessings that we receive. Are you feeling worry, fear, discouragement or self-doubt? Today in prayer, thank Christ and thank others whenever anyone does you a favor.  And to show you mean it, emphasize your words with a smile!

Will You Yield? NEVER!!!!

Storms are a natural part of life.  Small storms, like frantic searches for car keys when you are due at an important appointment.  Medium storms, like not having enough money to pay rent, or someone slamming into your parked car, putting your patience to the test as you walk through mountains of insurance issues and getting your car fixed or totaled and finding a replacement.  Finding a broken pipe, or a rotted floor or some other headache that you hadn't planned on dealing with. Then there are those HUGE storms.  Storms that threaten to do us in. That phone call that lets you know a loved one has been in a bad car accident, or has passed.  That doctor's report that tells you that you have cancer or COVID or some other equally bad piece of news.   How do you hold on then?  How do you not only hold on, but how do you actually grow stronger?  I believe it is in learning to yield your circumstances to God..

But that is much easier said than done, since yielding requires giving away even the last bit of the control we have.  But yielding to your circumstances to God can actually help you grow stronger as you meet the challenges of life. 

Yielding.  It means to “give way, to acquiesce.”  A more personal definition would be: to surrender or relinquish to the physical control of another : hand over possession of : to surrender or submit (oneself) to another.  

But we don’t like to yield (except, perhaps, to our temptations!)  It is not in our nature.  Everything within us revolts at the sound of yielding.  Oh, we do it when we have to…like when we come to a busy street and there is a yield sign.  But we don’t do it readily.  As a matter of fact, if the truth were to be known, we are approaching that yield sign to see if we have enough room to squeeze out in front of that car that is coming.  If we have just enough room, we will usually gun it to pull out in front and let them step on the brakes rather than yielding.  

In fact, as I have studied human nature, we don’t even value the idea of yielding, because we think it makes us look weak.  We, like Robin Hood, when presented with the question “Will you yield?” quickly respond...at least in our hearts, "NEVER!"  We would rather fight and go into the water before we would allow someone else to get the better of us.

So when someone says you can grow stronger through yielding, it almost sounds impossible.  But it is true.  Part of growing stronger as you go through the storms of life is realizing that God can use whatever circumstances you find yourself in if you will just rest in His care and yield to His will for you.  And if you’ve learned to trust Him in the good times, it is much easier not to panic in the storm.  

I had a mentor once, an older retired minister, named Sam. He still worked part time at the church I was at for a small stipend, but he loved people and he loved God and wanted to continue to spend his time bringing the two together. Sam was married to Dorothy.  And Sam and Dorothy had weathered many storms in life.  Family problems, many deaths of those close to them, financial pressures and at times, their own health challenges.  

One day Dorothy began to experience some abdominal pain.  She chalked it up to something she ate and figured it would pass.  But instead of going away, the pain got progressively worse, so she scheduled an appointment with her doctor.

A few tests, and the diagnosis did not take long.  She was already in stage 4 of pancreatic cancer.  I watched as Sam took care of her over the next few months, spending less time at the church and more by her side.  It wasn’t long before Dorothy died, her abdomen having swollen to the size of a basketball from the cancer inside her.

I will never forget that funeral and especially the graveside service.  Sam was there, and though he shed his tears over the one he had spent so much of life with, he wasn’t angry, he wasn’t questioning God and he wasn’t particularly trying to keep a stiff upper lip to put on a good show.

I walked up as he watched them shovel the dirt onto her casket and I put my arm around his shoulder.  He looked over at me and said, “I praise the Lord that He gave me such a good woman to go through life with.  She was my sweetheart.  The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. I trust Him to do what’s best. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

That spoke volumes to me of a trust in God that can develop in a person who chooses to yield to the will of God for their life.

What about you?  Have you learned to yield your impossible circumstances to God?  Your suffering can make you bitter or better?  Closer to God or farther away.  It depends on what you choose to do.  Yield or retain control…But I think if we can learn to yield, we will find that our lives will be more in control and make more sense and we can have a peace about us that does not flee in the presence of bad circumstances.  And no matter what, we can say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”  

The question I (and you as well) have to answer as I meet each of life’s challenges: Will  you yield this circumstance to God?