Wow! Thanks!

Anne Lamott's newest book Help! Thanks! Wow! is a treatise on the three essentials of prayer. In Aaron Henning's latest sermon "Beyond Thanksgiving" he doesn't quote Anne Lamott, but he does quote Ravi Zacharias who wrote a book about rediscovering wonder in our lives. So, in the title of this post, I summed up Aaron's message, borrowing from Anne, and juxtapositioning her words to Wow! Thanks! We pray: help, thanks, wow, and we should live: wow, thanks! Thanks for everything all the time...wow, thanks!

 At least if we're in Christ that's how we should live. He's done something matchless for us in saving us, giving us a hope and a future. Borrowing from Aaron -- If God never answers one more of my prayers in the way I hope that he will, still I have so much to be thankful for. This life is not the only one we've got. This world isn't the be all and end all. There is heaven to come!

The message "Beyond Thanksgiving" ended with something like this: For those who are in Christ this world is the closest you will ever get to hell. (To which I shout -- Hallelujah!) But for those who are not in Christ, this world is the closest one will ever get to heaven.

That puts my suffering -- all the sorrows I have ever experienced as well as the ones I have yet to experience -- in perspective. And my sufferings are exponentially better or worse in conjunction with my attitude of gratitude. When I'm thankful for all the good things in life the hardships pale. And in light of that, I want to make a conscious effort to live in awe. I don't want to lose the wonder.

How wonerful it would be to live a life of gratitude with a heart full of thanksgiving always, all the time, giving thanks to God without ceasing.  

...give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 

1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV