Devotionals
In All Things Give Thanks
© 2006
by
Stephen A. Peterson
The telephone rang just as Jackie Sofsky, 18, poured a cup of elbow macaroni into a boiling sauce pan of water. She reached for the telephone with one hand a lid to cover the boiling pasta with the other. Immediately, Jackie knew her best friend, Jeannie, was suffering. She had just received word her parents had been involved in a serious automobile accident in the neighboring state of Arkansas. They were pried from their demolished car and helicoptered to a hospital in Little Rock where they were reported to be in stable—but painful—condition. Jeannie indicated she would be flying into Little Rock in a few hours to be with them, so she wondered if Jackie would pray for them and her.
“You bet!” Jackie assured her. “How should I pray?” Together Jackie and Jeannie decided to pray out of the chaos turmoil and fear. Both young women were thankful they were alive, healthy and able to experience God’s protective presence. After about 30 minutes of telephone prayer, Jeannie sounded calmer when both said their good-byes to each other.
For the next several days as Jackie prayed for her friend, Jeannie, and her parents, she found herself developing the habit of calling on God when she is fearful, frustrated or uncertain about anything. As she was preparing to relax after coming home from work, a diamond earring her father gave her for her birthday dropped on her bedroom carpet. On her knees looking for it, Jackie thanked God for the wonders of human vision. At the time Jackie faced a conflict with a co-worker. She thanked God for that person’s good qualities and to help her not focus her mind on the behaviors that irritated her about that person in the first place. Soon Jackie came to realize that her problem with her co-worker was minor. Jackie, in time, learned that she could not be thankful for all circumstances that affected her, but she learned she could be thankful in them.
It has been said: “Life is ten percent what happens and ninety percent how a person responds to the even.” Psychological studies indicated that if a person conscientiously or unconscientiously performed a given activity for fifteen consecutive days, that behavior will become a habit. How about putting these two principles together this day? If the scientific findings are correct, we might give ninety percent of our responses to thankfulness in all our circumstances to God for the next fifteen days, just imagine how cheerful and stress-less life will truly be!
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