Wednesday, November 25, 2009

GIVE THANKS!












G - race isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live.
- Jacqueline Winspear

I - f the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is 'thank you', that would suffice.
- Meister Eckhart

V - ery little is needed to make a happy life.
- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

E - nter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise; be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good...
[Psalm 100:4, 5a]




T - o speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.
- Johannes A. Gaertner

H - e who thanks but with the lips
Thanks but in part;
The full, the true Thanksgiving
Comes from the heart.

- J.A. Shedd

A - s we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

N - o longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.

- John Greenleaf Whittier

K - now that the pain will pass, and, when it passes, you will be stronger, happier, more sensitive and aware.
- Mel Colgrove

S - ilent gratitude isn't very much to anyone.
- Gertrude Stein

24 comments:

Northern Light said...

I intend to use this as part of Thanksgiving Dinner Grace & Thanks time. I plan to pass it around the table, having the first 10 each read one of the verses.

Thanks, Bishop.

Peace and HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY CITN / BLOG FAMILY. You really are a family and man, aren't we blessed !

Peace~
Northern Light

Peacemaker said...

...and for this post, I am most grateful. Peace and Love to you this Thanksgiving..

PM

Anonymous said...

Virginia Bills said...

This is a very nice picture, Bishop! Missed church this week but thankful we ALL have time for family. Looking forward to blended church on sunday.

Anonymous said...

Felicia Ramirez Hoffman said...

oh my gosh, you have touched my heart!! brilliant bishop! i especially love "K" -- the BEST! as are you, sir. happy thanksgiving to you and yours.

Anonymous said...

Jeff Thames said...

You Rock... I'm thankful for you. I would also be more thankful if Chan would hurry up. We gotta go!

Anonymous said...

Glori Freeman Winders said...

Just wanted to let you know we are thankful for all of the wonderful teaching over the years and know that Tim and I are lifting you up in prayer. Happy Thanksgiving.

River said...

I'm so thankful for my extended family and all that the members of CITN have shared in my life even though we have no service this evening I know I'll be able to worship with them on Sunday along with the extended family church.
Can't wait because I'm thinking of my parents and missing them so much.

Anonymous said...

Ethelene Brown said...

I give much thanks for my Bishop and his precious fam.

Anonymous said...

Sonia Dean said...

Love that! hope u enjoy the holiday! I am thankful for u.

Anonymous said...

Paul Cole said...

Happy Thanksgiving Bishop Swilley, to you and your family!

Anonymous said...

So much to be thankful for..

Happy Thanksgiving

Peace and love to all

Pastor Nancy

Anonymous said...

Laura Cowan said...

happy thanksgiving bishop im thankful to have you as my bishop!

Karl said...

Thank you.

word ver: ledlite
"led your lite shine!"

Anonymous said...

Jon Mark Swilley said...

Happy Thanksgiving Jimbo!

Anonymous said...

Enjoy this great family day Bishop and know that we, your extended family are doing the same with more abundance because of who you have chosen to be.

Leaving Windy for Indy in a few. Will say hello to ours for you. They cherish this day with much gratitude for life abundant and also are thankful for you.

Anonymous said...

Blessings, Love and Peace to every one. I am thankful for my CITN family connection.

God is truly SO GOOD!

Debra M.

Iris said...

I was going to start a list of all the things that I am thankful for… But the list is entirely too long for this blog… So I will say this to capsulate what my heart longs to express… I AM A BLESSED WOMAN!

I stand here today in all of God’s grace and mercy, and am truly thankful for my life. He has touched me with kindness, compassion and love. My heart is full of His greatness… It magnifies Him in vastness of His love… With all adoration I give thanks.

Then for you all, my wonderful family… I bless you with all that is within me… I will never be the same because you have all touched my life, always encouraging, and pointing me to seek Him. It is because of the God in you that I stand here in love, proclaiming the good news of the gospels… That God, the one who adorns us with mercy and grace is in us all. The whole universe proclaims the wonders of His salvation.

So I encourage you all with this scripture…

Colossians 2:7… “… Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live Him. You're deeply rooted in Him. You're well constructed upon Him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.” The Message Bible

With love and thanksgiving for you all
Iris

Erik said...

What an unplanned, and excellent Thanksgiving. So much to be thankful for even in the last 36 hours.

In the midst of these hours, reasons to be thankful as in all things, are in the actual minute by minute living, all the pieces that simply make the big picture.

I had planned to spend the holiday with my son, a few hour drive, menu planned, preparations made. On Tue eve I recd a call from a friend of my mom’s in Indianna, that she was not well. I could not reach my mom , her phone was not working, could not even figure out what the full details were. Hospitalized? should she be? Etc.

Only option was to get there. Check flights (for the day before Thnksgvng, with 12 hours notice? Hmmmmmm, challenging). Turns out 30 minutes later, I had a free flight and free car rental upon my arrival instead of a $1000 airfare (which was the price with such short notice). Praise God, that was a lot easier than I thought. Praise God for customer loyalty programs.

On the way here, although the situation had a lot of possible outcomes, not many seemed uplifting, I actually slept on the flight, somehow that seemed the best thing to do.

I arrived, got to my mom’s. After sorting through everything, getting to the bottom of exactly what, when , - turns out it was reaction to medication, quick recovery. Phone issue was actually a line problem easily trouble shot by the phone company while on the cell phone with them. All done by 4 PM, less than 24 hrs before seemed quite bleak. Now, all was good, recovered, and possible financial disarray was accounted for. Everything was fine.

Well, that means I needed to go get food for Thanksgiving celebration.

I am Thankful . Turns out, my son, with the change in plans on my end, and some changes in plans at the last minute on his mom’s end, is spending Thanksgiving with her. Praise God!

So many pieces could have been different, even getting here, that could have been stressful, tiring, challenging.

The time, ease, and smoothness of the blessing just brings thanks and praise from me yet once again for both the small issues, and the larger issues just in this 36 hours, Thank You God.

Thanks for all the people and equipment that were readily available, easily accessed, which most were out of my control, worked together.

I even figured out how to make the previously unusable TV work. (My mom is not a TV fan, so it was not a priority). Parade, Football, and a great meal, with my mom, all is well. My son is well, and sharing with family as well.


Truly, What a Wonderful Life.

Karl said...

The morning started with leftover crepes I had made a couple of days ago and enjoying the beauty outside my window of the day just starting. Actually, I got up right when Macy's parade was ending...stayed up a little late.

The afternoon...man,the turkey was super tender and juicy...and with gravy, why in the world did I wait a whole year! Sweet potato casserole was slammin'. Mom did a great first attempt at the dressing and a guest brought a bucketful of brown rice and mushrooms spread out on a huge beautiful silver platter.

Aunt Karen played her piano while I felt like I could easily doze off on her soft and comfy couch.
Baby cousin Jordi was the cutest watching baby Einstein videos on a flat screen 5 times as big as he is.

My wife was sick but still did a bang up job on her makeup and looked the prettiest.

Finished the night with a hot ham and cheese roll, green been casserole and hot tea while watching Paul McCartney in New York. Not sure how late I'll be up, but I just might get me one of those baked pears, too. God bless! I hope that you all had a great day and someone to spend it with. May your holiday season truly be filled with joy and peace on earth!

Love,
Karl

Anonymous said...

Nicola Mason said...

Love it! "Very little is needed to make a happy life". Happy Thanksgiving Bishop to you and your family.

Anonymous said...

Michael Gordon said...

Happy Thanksgiving Man of God! I just finished SOTB 3 and I'm sooo thankful to feast on the love of God today!

Anonymous said...

Ruthie Alice said...

Happy turkey day!!! Mr.S

Northern Light said...

4AM and just got home from Midnight shopping madness. It was fun. Met delightful people, shopping in pajamas and a variety of other attire. What gimmicks the malls come up with.

Too blessed to be stressed ~ it was a beautiful Thanksgiving.

And now onto the holiday season. I have some good music to listen to, thanks, Bish.

Peace ~
Northern Light

Unknown said...

Trusting that its never late for Thanksgiving gratitude...and avoiding joining the "S - ilent" majority, [very insightful Gertrude Stein] I add my Thanks for this meeting place, all who come here and of course, Blogmaster...it's nearly impossible to make a list [shout out to Iris] of the words here that have spoken life to me personally, of the playful and oddly profound wordver contributions, the joyfully connecting synchronicity that is manifested in the most minute only-God-could-have-orchestrated-that ways, the blessings of "hearing" each blogger share their heart...and who they really are.

How do you put that into words that have any chance of saying "thank you" in the way that you want them to? I don't know...but Holy Spirit can make it so.

Erik, "So many pieces could have been different"..."Thanks for all ...that were readily available, easily accessed, which most were out of my control, worked together"...very cool testimony...and amen to that. During a short visit with long-unvisited family, I heard words come out of my mouth, in an unthinking response, that I knew were inspired by HS. I meant them, but I had not "thought" to say them, and I sensed they changed something, without a confrontation...they had an "IS-ness" to them that I cannot claim as mine. But what I can claim is that I sought to stay in the now for the visit...the piece I needed to add to all the other truths God had stored in me in order to be used, despite previous in the flesh failures.

So, thank you, Bishop. In the grand tradition of It's a Wonderful Life, I'll bring my gift to add to the offering and trust that you know that I would have had a completely "------" life, probably even a much shorter one, without you and CITN on this earth.

And, thank you, HS. You know for what and You know why.