I’d like to start off with an observational exercise. Take 15 seconds, wherever you are right now, to look around you and try and locate as many red objects as you can … alright, ready? How many blue things did you see? Probably not that many, right? Well obviously, because you were looking for things that are red, not blue! I saw this exercise done on an Instagram reel, and it’s meant to highlight a universal truth about human nature – we tend to find that which we are looking for. And by that, I mean that if you’re looking for red things, you tend to find red things. You might even bend the rules a little bit and count some things that are orange or rusty brown, just to up your numbers a bit.
The same thing happens when we look for behaviors, patterns, and truths about the world. If you are convinced that the world is an awful place, filled with awful people, and that’s what you’re looking for – I guarantee you will find plenty of evidence to support your beliefs. But the opposite is true as well. If you spend your time looking for things to be grateful for, things to be thankful for, blessings that exist in everyday life – I guarantee that you will find loads of them. And just to be clear, noticing the positive doesn’t mean the negative things aren’t real. I’m not trying to be a Pollyanna here, or say that the world is a perfect and wonderful place and you’re just looking at it wrong. But I will say, and here I’ll speak for myself, I often find myself stuck in that pattern of looking for the negative and it can really take it’s toll on me mentally, physically, and spiritually.
In the midst of everything that’s going on in the world right now, from international conflicts to the upcoming election, not to mention any personal struggles you might be experiencing, there is a great deal making us feel apprehensive, uncertain, and afraid. It is all too easy to look around us and only see the negative things that confirm our own personal opinions about the world – whatever those might be. And yet November is typically when we talk about the importance of gratitude (although it really should be a year-round conversation). Sometimes we need help breaking out of those negative headspaces. We need to be reminded about the ways that God’s blessings fill our lives every single day. And it’s from that posture of gratitude that we will be better equipped to handle the challenges of this world, to work towards fixing and healing that which is broken, and to live into our call to be light in the midst of the darkness. So, for the next few weeks, I’d like you to find time each day, even if it’s just 15 seconds, to think about reasons to be thankful. And if you’re super brave, email a few of them to me, I’d love to hear about them!
With gratitude for you all, Pastor Sam