day 292: Thresholds

I have written before about how different our attitudes are when we are going to work versus going home. Many people will talk about how they are "different people" at work versus home, and they don't like it. They talk about how they are positive, enthusiastic, optimistic at home, but on their way to work it feels like all of that life is sucked out of them. What happens that makes us feel this way? Why is it that when we start thinking about work that a whole different set of feelings and emotions creep up on us, and why does it have to be that way? Since no one but ourselves can control our emotions and feelings, it doesn't have to be this way and it all begins with the management of the thresholds. Each day we cross the threshold of our homes on the way to work, then we cross the threshold of our workplace. Later in that day we cross that threshold again on our way home and then we return to the threshold of our home for the last crossing of the day. If we were to think intently and deliberately about our emotions and feelings each time we make those crossings, then our attitude can be managed consistently. And that consistency is important in how we are viewed, appraised and interpreted by others around us, both at home and work. What God has to say about this can be found in Psalm 100:4; "Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name." The point here is that we can make any threshold His gates and His courts. It is all in how we think about our work and homes and the attitude that we bring into them within our hearts and minds. We can cross any threshold in a place of thanksgiving and praise and make them a place that can be called His. This week as we come off the long weekend focused on thanks, let us not lose that spirit and instead bring that same thanksgiving and praise to God with us as we cross the thresholds to leave home, go to work, leave from work, and go back home. May each threshold be the thresholds that are His.

Reference: Psalm 100:4 (New Living Testament)

day 289: Garment Workers

Over my vacation I finally got around to reading Malcolm Gladwell's book, "Outliers". Among the many stories that he tells, which all reinforce his message that each of us gets to where we are in life through the assistance of others and circumstantial opportunities, he goes deeply into the details the the rise of the number of successful law firms in New York City that grew out of the children of first-generation immigrants who were garment makers. This story about the number of garment workers' children who grew to be the educated and leading lawyers is in itself fascinating. That we all, or at least the many successful and talented people that Gladwell chronicles in the book, are the by-products of others, whether those people know it or not is even more fascinating. This not unlike the fact that we are certainly products of the prayers that went before us. A Grandmother or Grandfather, a teacher, a parent, or someone at church who prayed our names, have all influenced and been a part of our lives. The part in Gladwell's book about the garment makers' offspring reminded me of the Bible verse in Isaiah 61:3 that says we are to "put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness". A garment of praise? a spirit of heaviness? What is Isaiah trying to get at with us? The spirit of heaviness is one that we put on ourselves like a heavy coat that weighs us down. When we feel sorry for ourselves, or let ourselves feel lonely, of when we become ungrateful, or when we become selfish. These are all the things that can lead to our spirit getting loaded up and loaded down. The only we can break that spirit is to replace the heaviness with the garment of praise. A garment of praise is right there with us at all times, starting with us thanking God for all of the great and wonderful things he has done for us. The Bible calls us to fill our minds and think on the things that are wholesome, good and right. When we are feeling burdened and weighted down with all of the heaviness that comes with this world, we need to be sure that we rise above those emotions and that we start thanking and praising God for the good things in life he as given us. And with these praises and this thankful attitude we will be donning our garments of praise and squeezing out the doubtful thoughts and burdensome questions. God gives us the assurance that He will rescue us from any situation. Likewise, He will removes any spirit of heaviness that we feel, if we will only accept His garment of praise. Like the garment workers who worked so hard and so diligently to rise above the forces that would have kept them down, we too, as believers, need to be the first to shed the heaviness and welcome the gifts of the Lord and be the most thankful of people. In this short Thanksgiving workweek, start today with putting on the garment of praise and thankfulness!

Reference: Isaiah 61:3