The Road to Thanksgiving

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," a familiar Chinese proverb reminds reluctant travelers.

And when Life is the journey

and steps are difficult to make,

or every step seems like a step in the wrong direction,

or set-backs seem more frequent than steps-forward,

or courageous steps

seem unappreciated, inadequate or misunderstood,

more than a few have asked:

"What's the point, anyway?"

As in...

What's the point of this Road?

What's the point of all of this effort?

What's the point of suffering?

What's the point of pain?

What's the point of all of this?

What's the point of living, anyway?

PLEASE.

ASK the question.

Dare to ask.

Ask it morning, noon and night;

shout it out loud;

cry it through tears.

Because we are invited to ask.

Dare to ask the Creator, "What's the point?" because it is written:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." -Matthew 7:7-8

But before we dare ask "What's the point?"

Let's try, "Do we dare ask for understanding?"

(Can we handle the Truth?)

Understanding is standing-under;

understanding is humbling oneself;

Understanding is recognizing what's above and what's below,

what's higher and what's lower,

what's IN and what's out,

what's in the middle of it all,

and what remains:

The LORD your God is in your midst. Zephaniah 3:17

And then this:

The greatest miracles are said to occur when we are alone with God.

Those lonely moments contain the miracle.

Those lowly places hold promise.

Those lowest situations hold the Divine.

When we go low, He's on High.

So when we dare to ask,

and when we dare to avoid the distractions,

and when we dare to accept the discomfort,

and when we dare to be silent and wait...

and wait...

and wait...

It's Possible. With God all things are possible. Matt 19:26

While we are poking around to find the point,

the Point may just poke back

with a shift,

an insight,

a revelation.

Because the Trinity is Trifold

and is constantly, miraculously folding in upon the strength of itself

and is constantly, miraculously unfolding in us:

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

When we don't see the point,

The Triangular Trinity sees all.

When we can't hear or understand the point clearly,

The Triangular Trinity knows and makes known.

When we don't sense a clear direction,

The Triangular Trinity is all-present

and uses anything. anyone. anytime. anyhow. anyway.

to direct us.

Body, Mind and Spirit

are simply the three points of a triangle,

and we're used to saying it in that order -

but isn't it interesting

that it should be spoken as Spirit, Mind, Body...

In That Order,

the Image of the Triangular Trinity...

Spirit of God, Mind of God, Body of God (in Christ).

The Point is that Spirit must stay pointed on top.

Everything must trickle down from there.

Spirit is obedient to God's Word, God's Will, God's Way.

Spirit drives our own human words, human will, human way.

Mind obeys and carries out the Spirit's initiative.

Body is acted upon.

This. Is. Understanding.

Any other configuration has us acting with either mind or body first, which is reactive or unreliable at best.

Spirit-led and Spirit-directed, we can remember:

We are extensions of the Infinite.

And one story of a road (The Road to Emmaus, Luke 24:13-35)

tells of people who weren't aware that the Body of God was there,

walking alongside them in the flesh,

asking about their sorrow,

wanting to understand their pain,

ready to reveal Himself in their midst.

And on the road of our own fumbling in topsy-turvy-ness

when we don't start walking along the road,

when we won't make time to express our sorrow,

when we don't take time to share our pain,

when we aren't sure that anyone (let alone God) cares,

or when we aren't aware that God is there,

we can make a Righteous Right turn,

an immediate Yield to a higher power,

a Swerve into the realization that We are extensions of the Infinite,

and this Infinite

is all-capable, all-resourceful, all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful.

"We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5

We can turn right into the Trifold of the Triangular Trinity

and pronounce, "This. End. Up." so that the Spirit can lead

to Right our thoughts,

to Revise our words,

to Repair our actions

until we are Spirit-Led, through and through.

Until we start resembling the Creator's Order.

Until we understand that this is the Point.

And this consciousness

and conscientiousness

of the Power Who made us

which is the Power Who lives in us

IS the Powerful Point.

And this road

becomes a road of Remembrance,

that we Remember to ask questions

and we Remember to shout our Praise

and we Remember to cry out in Thanksgiving

because all this time we've been accompanied.

We are not alone on this Road of Life.

Understanding that and that alone

is the greatest Thanksgiving we can utter

from every aspect of our being,

Spirit, Mind and Body.

Each one-two step becomes, "Thank You."

Every breath in and out becomes, "Thank You."

Every heart-beat rhythm becomes, "Thank You."

Thanksgiving all along our Journey,

Thanksgiving as preparation,

Thanksgiving, of course -

positioned right before the Season of Emmanuel,

"God With Us."