Why am I thankful? Because I believe I cannot take anything for granted. As one who has heard the words “Congestive Heart Failure” and been unable to breathe, I count each breath as a gift (Gen. 2:7). Why can you be thankful? Because you cannot orchestrate, organize or order your life – how do I know this without knowing you? Because I know me and if I could have ordered every aspect of my life, I would have made far fewer mistakes. Why be thankful? Because despite what we may believe, we are not the end all be all authority over all things (Jer. 10:23) but there is One who is and that One cares for us.
Be thankful because you are; there are those who never had the opportunity to be. Be thankful for what is because it could have been another way. Be thankful for potential and possibilities because as long as we have life, we have another chance. Blessings, Rev. Antoinette
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No, I’m not going to debate over the validity of the Thanksgiving Holiday and no, I’m not going to review the historical backdrop for the holiday. My focus in this devotional is having an attitude of thankfulness. According to dictionary.com, thankfulness is an adjective meaning “feeling or expressing gratitude; appreciative”.
Blessings, Rev. Antoinette At a minimum, we operate in 3 lanes of forgiveness: us being forgiven, us forgiving ourselves and us forgiving others. If we fail to operate in any 1 of the 3 lanes, the other 2 cannot be fully embraced. Have you considered the lengths to which you’ve been forgiven? None of us have been perfect (Romans 3:10 & 3:23); every last one of us (no matter your age, race, religion or socio-economic background) has missed the mark for being completely “good”. Forgiveness for saying something we’ve claimed we’d never say again; forgiveness for desiring something (or someone) that is attached to someone else and forgiveness for misdirected anger. Yet, no matter what test we’ve failed, forgiveness is possible. I don’t know about you, but I’m my own biggest critic. I rehearse my shortcomings and wonder what could have been, if only. . . One of the hardest people for me to forgive is me but we are to move forward, it can only be after forgiving ourselves and using those lessons we’ve learned from our failures. There is a huge difference between forgiveness and excusing; when the hurt is unintentional or minor, we excuse – forgiveness only comes into being when the hurt is deep. When we don’t forgive, we harbor and internalize the poison that pain brings. Forgiveness cleanses, purifies and perfects us because when we consider the lengths, depths and widths forgiveness had to cross to embrace us, we can extend it to others. Blessings, Rev. Antoinette On November 1, some of us took a few moments to reflect on those within our culture who paved the way for the things we have and can access. Those who sacrificed their time, energy, efforts and in many instances their lives for people they never met but with whom they had a commonality. Some may refer to them as our Ancestors, Saints and/or Elders and others may not have a name for them but see them as being much more than persons from our history books.
When I think of people like Maggie Lena Walker, I wonder how she withstood those who told her she’d never be a teller at a bank when she knew she had the knowledge to own and manage them. When I think of people like Medgar Evers, I wonder how he had to courage to drive from town to town registering people to vote when he knew that his actions would lead to his death. When I think of the One who believed my worth exceeded my faults, I cannot fathom how or why He loves me to the extent He does. But what do we do with the knowledge of managing my money like Maggie, my drive to better my community life Medgar and desiring for all to know about the One who loves them more than they can imagine (Eph. 3:30)? Move forward. We can move forward, equipped with the knowledge they sacrificed everything to give to us. We can move forward, empowered by the confidence that we can possess what they only dreamt of and we can move forward, never forgetting we are the ones those behind us need to lead. Blessings, Rev. Antoinette |
AuthorRev. Antoinette Gatewood-Sykes, Inspirational Speaker Archives
May 2019
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