Check out this special #GivingTuesday opportunity

Today we come to the end of this series. We are talking about being thankful for “things.” It is part of the acronym P.O.E.T. It stands for:

P – People
O – Opportunities
E – Experiences
T – Things

There is a reason “things” comes last. We are certainly thankful for things – but people, opportunities, and experiences need to come first.

No matter how much or how little we have, there is nothing we have except what God gives. In life, we will find there will always be people who have more. There will always be people who have less. When it comes to finding contentment, we will never find true contentment in things.

It is often the people who have the most that are the least content. There is always the elusive “more” out there. Once you acquire more, there will still be more. If you have your heart set on more, you will never arrive.

There is also the adage of “be careful of what you wish for.” The more you have, the more responsibility you hold. God did not give you what you have simply for yourself. He gave you what he gave you to supply your needs and the needs of others. We will all one day give an accounting of how we used what God entrusted to us.

Americans will spend millions of dollars buying gifts for one another this Christmas. We will give our children toys that they will play with on Christmas Day and then barely touch again. Think about what you received for Christmas last year. Many of us can’t even remember. Why do we so lavishly spend on each other, giving things we don’t need? I often wonder if our gift giving during Christmas truly honors the Savior we celebrate on that day.

There is something I heard some time ago. It was the idea of living simply so that others can simply live. It is the idea of foregoing the luxuries that we don’t need to help supply the basic needs of others. It is choosing to drive a good reliable used car instead of buying the luxury Mercedes on credit. It is choosing to live in a house I can afford that fits my family rather that taking a mortgage that will force me to live paycheck to paycheck. It is realizing that even though that large screen HDTV on sale for Black Friday was a really good deal, the TV I have works perfectly fine. We then take the money we would have spent on ourselves and use it to be a blessing for others. It’s about making eternal investments. This is how Jesus says it:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19–21 (ESV)

One of the most significant things that I have been able to participate in the last few year is working in Haiti. Our church has taken on sponsoring more than 50 children at the Timoun se Espwa Demen Orphanage (translated Children are the hope of the future). When I first walked into this orphanage less than two years ago, they had nothing. There was no food. The children slept on the concrete floor of a two-room house. The orphanage wall was broken down from the 2010 earthquake. School was not even a consideration.

Since that time, we have sponsored these children by sending a regular financial support. We have also taken several mission trips to the orphanage. The children have a new lease on life. The children of the future indeed have hope!

These are precious children. Check out this video that was recently sent to us this Thanksgiving:

This Christmas we want to something special for these children, and I want to invite you to prayerfully consider participating. We would like to buy bicycles for these children. We realize that bicycles are not a need in a country filled with overwhelming needs. But we wanted to do for these children something we would do for our own children. With a modest goal of $1000 on Giving Tuesday, we can make this a Christmas to remember for these children.

If you would like to learn more about this opportunity or would like to participate you can do so at this link: haitianchildrensministry.org/bicycles-for-christmas.

Thank you for being a blessing!

Learn more about bicycles for Christmas

Questions for Reflection

1. What some “things” for which you are grateful?
2. Why is it more important to be grateful for people, opportunity, and experiences?
3. Why does God give us “things”? How can you use your “things” to honor him?
4. Share your comments.

The season of Advent is upon us, but I am a little reluctant to move on from Thanksgiving. Watching the videos of people on Black Friday, there are many who would do well to hold on to Thanksgiving a little bit longer. Gratitude is not something to reserve for one day of the year, but it is something to strive for every day.

I left off last week, before Thanksgiving, talking about the acronym P.O.E.T. It stands for:

• P – People
• O – Opportunity
• E – Experiences
• T – Things

Today I want to continue the discussion and talk about being grateful for experiences. There are different types of experiences for which to be grateful.

Joyful Experiences

Our family had a November to remember. We took a family vacation at the beginning of the month to Disney World in Florida. Then on Thanksgiving Day, my daughter and I ventured into New York City to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Two bucket list experiences in one month!

The great thing about experiences is that no one can take them away from us. We will hold on to those memories for the rest of our lives. We all remember riding a bike for the first time, that first kiss, and the birth of a child. These are special moments. Let’s remember the Giver of Life who makes all these great experiences possible.

Learning Experiences

Not every experience in life is a joyful experience. There are painful and difficult experiences. These are what I would call learning experiences. These are experiences I would never want to go through again, but I am glad I did. We all have a few hard learned lessons. We all have a tendency to learn the hard way. You may not want to thank God for the experience itself, but give him thanks for the lesson learned.

Faith-building Experiences

Faith-building experiences are similar to learning experiences. We might even consider them to be a special class of learning experiences. These are the experiences where we learn to trust God. These are experiences that refine our faith.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:6–7 (ESV)

It might be the loss of a job, the death of a loved one, or a difficult divorce. Faith is rarely built on the sunny days of life. It is most often forged in the most difficult experiences.

Again, we may not be grateful for the experience itself, but if we look closely enough, we will find opportunity to be grateful even in the most demanding moments in life. It might be that we are grateful for God’s help. It might be that we are grateful for him taking us by the hand to navigate a challenging circumstance. It might be discovering gratitude in realizing that there is a greater experience that awaits all who trust Jesus as Savior. I am grateful to know that when I am weighed down by the burdens of this world, that these burdens are only temporary.

Unique Experiences

Your experiences in life are unique to you. No one has all the same experiences as you. It is part of what makes you who you are. It is part of what enables you to serve your Lord in a way that no one else could serve him. Each of us has our individual contribution to make in the Kingdom of God. As you think about your experiences in life, consider the possibilities of how you can use your unique experiences in life to bless God and others.

Questions for Reflection

1. What are your joyful experiences?
2. What are your learning experiences?
3. What are your faith building experiences?
4. How can you use your unique experiences to bless God and others?

Yesterday I shared an acronym POET. It stands for:

• P – People
• O – Opportunities
• E – Experiences
• T – Things

These are four opportunities to express our gratitude. Yesterday I talked about being grateful for people. Today I want to continue the discussion and talk about being grateful for opportunities.

God has given you opportunities. More opportunities than you realize. We all have opportunities presented to us, but we fail to see them because we are too focused on missed opportunities of the past, present opportunities not available, or opportunities some distance away in the future. But there are opportunities before you if you are willing to see them.

Your future is a blank canvas. Today is a day of possibilities filled with opportunities. Ask God to give you the eyes to see opportunities and the courage to grab hold.

I enjoy the art of photography. The challenge of good photography is to look at everyday life from a new perspective. You can have two photos of the same subject. One may be forgettable and the other captures your attention and imagination. What makes the difference? One photographer saw the possibility. He saw the opportunity. He challenged himself to look at a common subject in a new way. Maybe he looked at the subject from an angle above. Maybe he looked at it from an angle below. Maybe he changed the lighting to see the subject in a new light.

The point is that it is the same subject, but a different outcome. The opportunity existed from both photos. One photographer saw the opportunity and the other did not. What are the opportunities you miss?

The other thing about capturing a photo is that you need to frame the subject. Often what makes a photo compelling is what you don’t see. A great photo is not about embracing all the possibilities, but seizing the right possibilities. The photographer is limited by the frame of the camera. He is limited by the lighting of the scene. He is limited by the technology. But great art is to capture possibility inside of all the limitations.

There are plenty of things I never got to do with my life. There are plenty of things I will never get to do. There are plenty of limitations in front of me. But instead of dwelling on what I didn’t do and what I can’t do, I will choose to focus on what I can do. And there is an abundant future that is full of possibility with God as my strength!

I am thankful for the opportunity to live. I am thankful for the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. I am thankful for the opportunity to partner with God in doing his work. I am thankful for the opportunity to connect with you through this blog. I am thankful for the opportunity to make a living doing what I love. I am thankful for the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others. I am grateful for opportunities I don’t yet see.

Questions for Reflection

1. What are the opportunities that exist in your life?
2. What causes us to miss the opportunities?
3. Share the opportunities for which you are grateful.
4. Share your comments.

Yesterday we talked about expressing gratitude. I encouraged you to take some time and write down ten things for which you are grateful. I appreciate all of you who shared your gratitude in the comments section. Some of you may have found this assignment to be easy. Others of you may have found it to be difficult.

If you found the assignment difficult, you might have learned that you need to work at building gratitude into your life. Gratitude is an intentional choice we make. To assist you in growing in gratitude, there is an acronym:

• P – people
• O – opportunities
• E – experiences
• T – things

At the top of the list is people. Notice that at the end of the list is ‘things.’ It is easy to flip the list up-side-down and to put ‘things’ at the top of the list. But there are good reasons to put people first.

When I think about being grateful for people, I recognize that God is at the top of the list. There is nothing to be more thankful for than Jesus Christ. In him, we have everything. Without him, we have nothing.

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Mark 8:36 (ESV)

All the money in the world will not buy us happiness. All the success in the world will not accomplish salvation. In the end, the only thing that matters is the relationship we have with Jesus. I am thankful that I know him. I am thankful in a world filled with violence and suffering there is nothing I need to fear because I have Jesus in my life.

I recognize that God does not need my thanks. And any thanksgiving I might offer is insufficient compared to what he has done. No words could match. No deed could surpass. But I will bring my gift of worship and offer my praise because I cannot do anything but that.

Beyond the one most important person (Jesus), there are the other people in our lives. We would do well to show our appreciation to the people around us. It is easy to assume others know they are appreciated. It is easy to overlook the opportunities to express appreciation. I am always amazed at how far a simple thank you will go.

We typically think of Christmas as the gift giving holiday. But consider making Thanksgiving be a gift giving holiday. I am not talking about going to the store and buying gifts. It is a gift that will cost you nothing. It is a simply sharing your appreciation for the people in your life. Thank them that they are part of your life. Give them some praise. I know it will encourage them.

Yesterday your assignment was to write down ten things for which you are thankful. Your assignment today is to write five thank you notes. Write an email. Write it by hand. It doesn’t matter how you send it. What matters is that you send it so that the people you appreciate know they are appreciated.

Write a note to an employee. Write a note to your spouse. Write a note to your teacher. Write a note to your pastor. Write a note to your boss.

Do it now! Don’t wait to get around to it later. If you wait, you will forget. Do it now while you are thinking about it. If you are like me, you put off those good intentions until later. But later never comes around. Your good intentions remain exactly that – good intentions. Don’t let your appreciation remain a good intention.

Questions for Reflection

1. How do we express our gratitude to God?
2. Why do we want to prioritize our gratitude for people over our gratitude for things?
3. Send 5 thank you notes filled with praise to people you appreciate.
4. Share your comments.