Pastor Steve’s Blog November 18, 2018 As Thanksgiving nears Cindy and I want to take this opportunity to give thanks to God for the consistent witness St Paul United Methodist Church has been to the Arlington community for decades. And when I say “consistent witness” I mean you, the people, who have been a part of this church and make St Paul what it is…a warm, accepting and loving congregation. And I might add enjoys a good humorous story. I was reading the meditation for Thanksgiving in “The Upper Room” and thought I would share it with you since I found it spoke to my heart and provided me some perspective and wisdom. The Scripture is I Chronicles 16:34: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” The meditation was written by Lisa Braxton of Massachusetts. She writes: “When I saw the email, I braced myself. For nearly a year, I’d sent sample chapters to different publishers, praying that one of them would give me a contract for my novel. But so far I’d gotten only rejections---dozens of them---and this email proved to be another one. A few days later, the publisher of an inspirational anthology accepted an essay I’d written, but I didn’t enjoy the good news. When a friend congratulated me, my response was to complain that the novel had not been accepted. I later realized how ungrateful I was being. I was focusing on what I didn’t have, rather than on God’s blessings. Paul tells us, ‘Always give thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Ephesians 5:20 CEB). God had answered my prayer—just not in the way I’d hoped. My essay would be read by hundreds of subscribers of the anthology. For that I am thankful. Sometimes we can become so focused on one particular disappointment that we don’t see the many blessings we receive every day. By being grateful for God’s blessings even in the face of disappointment, we are able to invite peace and joy into our lives and open our hearts to the many more blessings God has in store for us. Prayer: Dear God, give us grateful hearts so we may appreciate the work you do in our lives. Amen.”