Christian Business Builder

I was reading Psalm 23 this week. As I read I was struck by what I found to be an awesome Thanksgiving thought:

The beginning of the Psalm speaks of the blessings of the Lord afforded to the believer in the good times.

No want, green pastures, and still waters all sound wonderful ….

Everyone who is a believer wants to live in this picture of perfect bliss … but what happens when things turn dark?

David continues on and the picture turns from the beauty of the green pastures to the darkness of the valley of the shadow of death.

Yet even there David is thankful for God’s presence!

In the darkness God is David’s comfort (thy rod and thy staff they comfort me).

In the darkness God is David’s source (thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemy).

In the darkness God is David’s protector (thou anonitest my head with oil).

In the darkness God is David’s benefactor (my cup runneth over).

With God’s presence so easily sensed in these dark times David knows that God’s goodness and mercy will be with him in this life and that he will dwell with him for eternity (Surely goodness and mercy shall dwell with me all the days of my life: and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever).

With these truths known, we should make everyday (dark or light, comfort or struggle) a day of thanksgiving.

Our lives will be edified for it and our ability to edify our family, friends, and our team will be strengthened.

We also should seek to be there for those we love even as God is always there for us!

This will establish our place as leaders in our group and will testify of our faith in God through Christ.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, today and everyday of your life.

Dave

As the Pilgrims and their Indian friends sat down for the first thanksgiving feast in the new world, they had much to be thankful for.

They had survived their first full year in the new world.

They had found new friends among the natives of the land who helped them with understanding and knowledge of this new land.

Though many had died in the first winter, they were still alive as a group and had a real sense of optimism about the future.

In our day we should be thankful as well ….

We should be thankful because God has blessed us with another year.

It may have had its ups and downs, but we have made it through and that is worthy of our thanks.

We should be thankful for all the new knowledge and understanding we have gained this year (even if some of the knowledge came for lessons learned in failure.)

We should be thankful for new friends gained and old friends retained as we worked our ways through our daily endeavors.

But more than anything we ought to be thankful for the Lord’s continued goodness in our lives.

The Psalmist said it best when he said, ” Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. ” (Psalm 100)

We can demonstrate the thankfulness that we have to the Lord by our glad service, the song in our hearts, and our attitudes of praise and thanksgiving.

Do our team members see this in us? Do they know that above all things we are joyful and thankful leaders? Do we demonstrate our thankfulness in all the aspects of our business as well as our life?

Have a great thanksgiving and may God bless you, your family, and your business in the year to come.