Thanksgiving for Communion with God and Others

C.S. Lewis The Weight of Glory

“We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.”

We begin, again, our thoughts on thankfulness with the quote above from C.S. Lewis. We are two days away from the biggest shopping day of the year. Today, actually, is the busiest travel day of the year, with over 4.5 million taking to the skies. Airports and roads will be jam-packed. Activity has ramped up significantly in the last few days and in another couple of days the American populace will throw it into overdrive.

So, today, alone, in the mountains, with the snow lightly falling, I am very grateful for solitude. I am beginning my day meditating on the Word of God, and talking with the One who is my best Friend, redeemer, and companion. I am thankful that God extended the invitation to me, in the solitude of my own heart, to walk in relationship with Him. It is in this relationship that all other relationships in my life find support. Apart from my walk with God, I cannot walk with others in friendship. Apart from my understanding of His love, I cannot love others. Apart from communion with Him, the world would eat me alive. Apart from my intimate friendship with Him, all other relationships would amount to very little. And apart from my relationship with God my mind would be crazed with all sorts of worry, desire, stress, fear, and emotional madness.

Today, I am thankful that in solitude with God I find my source, my strength, and new ability to love others another day. I am grateful that He enables me to love those who in the natural are not quite lovable, and I am thankful that He loves me, despite my lack of loveliness, thereby, enabling me to love myself despite the giant holes in my personality.

Take time today, friends, to quiet the activity around you and within you and place yourself in intimate communion with God. In doing so, your heart will be strengthened, your love will grow, and you will experience the sweet fellowship of knowing God. And throughout the holiday season make it a daily quest to do the same. Make this holiday time a true holiday of the soul. Enjoy the activity, parties, colors, sounds, smells, and joy of the season. Take them all in as you commune with others while at rest in your own soul.

Thankful,

Bruce

optimuslife.org

This entry was posted on 21. November 2007 at 10:39 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.