We read in the Gospel of St. Luke that reminder of how we at times receive more than we give! (Luke 12:16-21) We are asked just how big is our storehouse; and is the perishable fruit the Lord has provided us, going to waste? So I ask, have you taken inventory of your many blessings?
As I studied this scripture, I was reminded of an old gospel hymn that was written over 100 years ago and it kept playing over and over in my mind: “Count Your Many Blessings name them one by one, Count your blessings, see what God hath done; Count your blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.”
Things of the Earth can vanish ever so quickly, even our retirement gold and silver. Some old retirement age friends of mine just this week lost their home to a fire. The two of them escaped the enflamed old farmhouse with the clothes on their back. And then let us not forget the losses our neighbors have realized with the flooding rains that violently plummeted the mountains just 2 short months ago. What do you treasure?
And here we are at America’s celebration of Thanksgiving and I have to ask: Are we truly thankful or are we stuffing our storehouses full? Do you really realize just how precious your time is, and do you know the people who have love for you and pray for you? Are you servants of God stingily, storing your love up in a storehouse as well, or are you able to empty your baskets amongst the people God puts in front of you, even the prickly and mean ones?
This lost world encourages us to build bigger storehouses for ourselves and yet we stand here at the threshold of a yet another World War, will it all be gone tomorrow? What are you treasuring? What will you do? But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” [Lk. 12:20,21]
Every Thanksgiving the church collects donations for the Fund for Assistance that helps so many folks out across the globe. (https://www.fundforassistance.org/donate) We also gather canned goods and baby items every week here in the narthex and Matushka is now asking for donations of coats and gloves for the needy. Just how full is your storehouse? Will you help?
“For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ (Matt 25:35-40)
I know that over the years we have spent wondering this Earth some of us have been deeply wounded and have retreated deep into our shell like a box turtle protecting ourselves; it is only through love that we can be restored. When we fully experience the care that Christ has for each and every one of us, there will not be enough room in our lit’l ole shell to contain us anymore. Love thy neighbor.
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Cor13:3-8)
Count your many blessings, give them one by one, count your many blessings and see what the Lord hath done!
