Take Time to Think...

It's the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and we're all scrambling around the house getting it ship-shape for the family to come for dinner tomorrow.  Before I dig in with both hands this morning I happen to be chatting on facebook with an old friend who is also unemployed and he told me that he just found another job.  He made the comment "Thanksgiving Indeed!"  I can tell he's really excited and I'm happy for him as well.  

I got to thinking that I should make some kind of post for the holiday, but nothing really jumps out at me to say.  I have always held that I want to write when I'm inspired to do so - not out of obligation or any timeline.   Still, as I consider the Thanksgiving holiday and all the memories I have of people and places something does float to the surface.  

Consider for a minute that God blesses us according to his master plan - not ours.  I got fired from a job at a software company despite my intense prayers that I would be able to continue to work there.  I've lost a girlfriend or two and groused about it for days despite my prayers to God to make THIS girl the one I spend the rest of my life with.  I've prayed hard for this, that, or the other thing to make my life complete or to help me accomplish something only to have the answer be "no" or "how about this instead".  

I can point out a lot of things that I would have liked to be thankful for if I had gotten them - but I didn't.  What's more, I could certainly be bitter and callous about not getting what I asked for.  When kids do that we call them spoiled or....worse.  I wonder if that's how God looks at me when he doesn't give me what I want, ask for, or in some cases, demand.  

Ironically, God has blessed me.  The job at the software company went away - true.  But it made me available for another job where I learned an incredible amount of knowledge about leading people.  I lost a couple of girlfriends - true.  But I'm blessed with a wife that is a wonderful woman in her own rite and teaches me many things.  So many things I've asked for from God and NOT gotten only to discover (sometimes years later) that God had something so much better in mind for me.  

So, this year, join me and Garth Brooks in being thankful for unanswered prayers - or prayers that weren't answered the way we expected or wanted them answered.  Thank God that he knows us better than we know ourselves.  

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."