REV. BILL LEE
JANUARY 24, 2016
I was looking out of my family room window at the beautiful snow and I thanked God for
slowing me down and giving me a time of reflection. While thinking I began to thank
God for being so good. I thought about this meditation that I wrote in the year 2000 and
thought I would share with all of you that can’t get to church today.
Thinking and Thanking
Please read Psalm 116
"I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications" (Psalm
116:1).
A thinking person is a person who give thanks. A person who gives thanks is a
thinking person. Thinking and thanking go hand and hand. In doing an etymological
study of think, I discovered that in Middle English the two words come from a common
root. Think, tongere in Latin, means to know or to thank.
The psalmist is thinking about what the Lord has done in his life. He lists for
himself the reasons why he loves God. God has heard his voice and supplications. Death
surrounded him, but God made death behave. Distress and anguish did not cause him to
stroke out for God stepped in and saved him.
The psalmist thinks about how many times grace and mercy has brought him
through. He remembers how God has protected him in the time of danger and has given
rest to his restless soul. He remembers the times God has taken the divine handkerchief
and wiped away his tears. God has kept him on his feet even though he was stumbling.
As the psalmist was thinking, thanking occurred. The psalmist says I will offer
you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the Lord. The thanking came
because he was thinking.
A person who is not engaged in consistent thanking is a person who is not
thinking. Every time I think of his goodness, I say thank you Lord.
Today I challenge you to think and you will thank.
Thank you Lord for enabling me to think and to thank. Amen.
I came across this video of a panda playing in the snow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viu1UgZ7gwM
Watching the panda playing in the snow is reminds all of us how we ought to respond
when we THINK and THANK.