Researching Thanksgiving

Last week as I listened to some other pastor's preach on giving thanks, I heard a statement like the following one several times, "Research shows that being thankful improves your health."  But the research was never cited or directly quoted, so I did some looking into that.  I found some studies on gratitude that came out of Harvard (Harvard Mental Health Letter, "In Praise of Gratitude"  November 2011 quoted in preachingtoday.com).

Psychologists Dr. Robert A. Emmons and Dr. Michael E McCullough asked participants in one study to write down a few sentences each week. One group was told to write down things they were grateful for in their week.  Another group wrote about what irritated them.  A third group just wrote down events of their week with no instructions on whether they were to be good or bad.

Ten weeks went by and then the groups were studied.  The ones who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic, felt better about life, had fewer doctor's visits and exercised more than either of the other two groups.

Another researcher, Dr. Martin E. Seligman tested 411 people, giving them various assignments and then studying the impact those assignments had on the individual's moods.  The most impactful assignment given to the group was to write and personally deliver a letter of gratitude to someone who had never been properly thanked.  Study group members immediately showed a huge increase in happiness scores after the assignment with benefits from the letters they wrote and delivered lasting for more than a month.

Though none of these studies show a direct cause and effect correlation, they point to the power of gratitude to change our lives for the better.  I doubt that a typical Thanksgiving dinner with all it's calories will improve your health and well being, but the act of thanksgiving surely will.  Writing things down seems to big part of that as well.  Why not write a thank you note to someone this Thanksgiving?  What have you got to lose?

for the journey...

Tim

Admirable

In this Thinksgiving week challenge that I gave us in my post last week (The Thinksgiving Week Challenge), the day I had the hardest finding an example verse for was the word "admirable."  If we are to think on things that are admirable, where is that in the Bible?  The Philippians 4:8 verse is the only place I found the word "admirable."  Surely there was admiration going on, especially of Jesus, but it does not use that word.

That is why I went with the word "marvel" and used the example in Matthew 15:31 that the crowd observing Jesus "marveled" at his works of healing.  We don't do enough marveling or admiring today, especially of Jesus.  Anger, criticism and judgment are much easier and much more prevalent.  When we think on those negative things, we do negative things.

Years ago I heard a story about a college football game where the coach had to make a tough decision.  The starting quarterback went down with an injury.  The back up was sick with the flu and not suited up.  The only quarterback left on the team was a freshman who had never taken a snap.  On top of all that, the opposing team had just downed a punt inside the five yard line.

So the coach called the freshman over and told him to go no huddle on offense and to hand the ball off on two successive plays to the running back, then on the third play to surprise the opposing team by punting the ball.  The coach knew the freshman had been a punter as well as quarterback in high school.  The freshman went into the game angry that the coach only trusted him to hand off and to punt, he knew he could do more than that.  His ego was bruised and he was steaming that his coach only wanted him to get the team out of trouble but he did what he was told.

The first handoff went for a minimal gain, but on the second running play, the running back took the ball and broke through the defense and down the field all the way to the opponents two yard line.  The freshman hurried his team to the line of scrimmage and just as he had been told, he punted it on the third play.  Of course the ball went through the end zone resulting in a touchback so that the other team got the ball on the 20 yard line.

When the quarterback got back to the sideline, the coached yelled at him, "What were you thinking?"  To which the freshman shot back, "That we have the dumbest coach in the country to call those plays!"

When we think negatively, we feel negative things and we act negatively - and it is all completely natural to us.  What happens when we learn to admire?   When we learn to marvel, especially at the things Jesus is doing?  Today, let's try to find out.  This may the be best way to turn "Thinksgiving" into "Thanksgiving."

for the journey...
Tim

Thinksgiving

No, that title is not a typo.  That is a specific challenge that I have given to us at Northside for the coming week.  If you are reading this without hearing the sermon, "Fixing Your Thoughts" on November 16.  We are studying eight things that Paul challenges the church there to think about from Philippians 4:8.

So if you are willing give this a try this week:

The Thinksgiving Week Challenge

Each day there will be focus word from that verse as well as another scripture verse to help us fix our thoughts on that word.

Day 1 – Sunday:  “whatever is true…”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  John 14:6

Day 2 – Monday:  “whatever is noble…”

(From the Parable of the sower, speaking about the seeds that fell on good soil).

“But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.”  Luke 8:15 NKJV

Day 3 – Tuesday:  “whatever is right…”

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”  James 1:19-20

Day 4 – Wednesday:  “whatever is pure…”

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”  Psalm 51:10

Day 5 – Thursday:  “whatever is lovely…”

“How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty!   My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”  Psalm 84:1-2

Day 6 – Friday:  “whatever is admirable…”

“So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.”  Matthew 15:31 NASB

Day 7 – Saturday:  “whatever is excellent…”
“Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.”  1 Timothy 3:13

Day 8 – Sunday:  “whatever is …praiseworthy…”

“Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.”  Psalm 145:3

“…think about such things.”

A Little Peace and Chaos

"It was the biggest crisis of my life and I had peace.  It was incredible."  That was the statement I heard from a young man this week who was recounting how God worked in his situation. His premature, new born baby was in a neonatal ICU - struggling.  The young man's father had come to visit and he had a major health crisis and ended up in the ICU in another part of the hospital.  Crises do not usually crash into our lives alone.

So how do we get peace when your child and your father are both in ICU?  The interesting thing about where God teaches us peace (as well as patience, kindness, love and pretty much every fruit of the Spirit) is that it comes in the places where it is hardest for them to naturally exist.  In the places where it seems life takes peace, God teaches peace.  He takes us beyond the natural to grow the supernatural. 

Think about that in your life.  Have you ever learned patience without actually being in a place where you have to wait?  I haven't.  Peace is the same way; God teaches it to us in the crisis and the chaos.  If we learn it there, peace will be there when the crisis and chaos go away.  And the peace will be stronger.

This Sunday we are going to be learning about God's peace.  I have a sneaking suspicion that many of us are in a place to learn it  - right now.

for the journey...

Tim