Dear Friends,
I’m so grateful for Thanksgiving because I need to be reminded, even forced at times, to look at my life with a heart of thanks. I have to admit that I have a tendency to want more, expect more. I measure success by what I haven’t accomplished and what I don’t have. Thanksgiving helps me to focus on what is important and to count my blessings. A heart of thanks also strengthens my faith so I can confidently face the future. A heart of thanksgiving helps me to experience peace; a peace that passes understanding.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t thank God for pain, suffering, and death. I thank God that He experienced these things – for you and me! I thank God that He redeems even the most distressing experiences and turns them around for good! God loves, God cares, God provides. I just need to develop a heart of thanks so I can see it!
My prayer for you (and for me), this Thanksgiving, is that you will develop a heart of thanks that enables you to see and feel how God has blessed you. I pray that you will see and appreciate how God has redeemed your life. I pray that you will experience peace. And then, with a heart of thanks, I pray that you will celebrate God’s goodness with a feast of Thanksgiving!
B.J. Huizenga
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Cycles
Dear Friends,
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new?” It was here already, long ago; it was here before out time… (Ecclesiastes 1:9, 10)
Dare I say I am old enough to remember fashions that have come and gone – and come again!? In my first year of teaching, I bought a pair of “Angel’s Flight” pants, tight at the hips, so tight they didn’t bother with pockets, and big bells at the bottom. I remember the fabric as some double knit blend. I thought I was on the cusp of original design; the young teacher – and fashion plate! Later that year in my History class, I displayed a picture of WWI American sailors standing on the prow of a ship. What were they wearing? Big bells! New clothes were not the norm for a young man living on a teacher’s salary so I kept those pant too long. Years later, a middle school student, sitting on the ground as I walked by, flicked the bottom of my flared pant leg and said, “Bonggggg…” I retired the big bells. You know the rest of the story, bell bottoms have come again – and gone. I was shocked when they came back! If God gives me strength, I’ll be shocked again. It’s the nature of things.
We see cycles in God’s Creation like the water cycle and seasons. We see cycles in teaching techniques as well. A teacher recently attended a seminar in which each attendee was given an electronic “slate.” The new technology provided instant communication for the instructor, giving her an immediate read on whether or not each student could give an answer. I was reminded of my mom’s story of individual slates that each student used in her one-room school house, equipped with a piece of chalk and an old rag. There is nothing new under the sun; it was done before.
We have a God of cycles! And I’m not talking Harley Davidson…. God created mankind in a world of perfection. Man blew it. God makes us perfect again through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! There is a sense of peace that comes with the pattern of cycles in life. The fad of jeans that hang almost to the crotch – will soon disappear. And that wayward child will come back as God has promised. Time and patience are needed. What has been will be, and what has been done will be done again.
B.J. Huizenga
PS What prompted this topic, you might ask? I bought a new sport coat and wore it to school last Tuesday. It’s brown corduroy with leather patches at the elbows. I haven’t owned a corduroy jacket for what, 30 years!?
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new?” It was here already, long ago; it was here before out time… (Ecclesiastes 1:9, 10)
Dare I say I am old enough to remember fashions that have come and gone – and come again!? In my first year of teaching, I bought a pair of “Angel’s Flight” pants, tight at the hips, so tight they didn’t bother with pockets, and big bells at the bottom. I remember the fabric as some double knit blend. I thought I was on the cusp of original design; the young teacher – and fashion plate! Later that year in my History class, I displayed a picture of WWI American sailors standing on the prow of a ship. What were they wearing? Big bells! New clothes were not the norm for a young man living on a teacher’s salary so I kept those pant too long. Years later, a middle school student, sitting on the ground as I walked by, flicked the bottom of my flared pant leg and said, “Bonggggg…” I retired the big bells. You know the rest of the story, bell bottoms have come again – and gone. I was shocked when they came back! If God gives me strength, I’ll be shocked again. It’s the nature of things.
We see cycles in God’s Creation like the water cycle and seasons. We see cycles in teaching techniques as well. A teacher recently attended a seminar in which each attendee was given an electronic “slate.” The new technology provided instant communication for the instructor, giving her an immediate read on whether or not each student could give an answer. I was reminded of my mom’s story of individual slates that each student used in her one-room school house, equipped with a piece of chalk and an old rag. There is nothing new under the sun; it was done before.
We have a God of cycles! And I’m not talking Harley Davidson…. God created mankind in a world of perfection. Man blew it. God makes us perfect again through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! There is a sense of peace that comes with the pattern of cycles in life. The fad of jeans that hang almost to the crotch – will soon disappear. And that wayward child will come back as God has promised. Time and patience are needed. What has been will be, and what has been done will be done again.
B.J. Huizenga
PS What prompted this topic, you might ask? I bought a new sport coat and wore it to school last Tuesday. It’s brown corduroy with leather patches at the elbows. I haven’t owned a corduroy jacket for what, 30 years!?
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