This was his phrase for every absurd action, every difficult circumstances, and every hurtful comment, and the storyline of every special gave him many opportunities to use it. Of course, this fit Charlie Brown’s character: slightly depressed, often teased, and always coming up on the short end of the stick.

I know people like that. Sometimes, I’ve owned that characterization in my own life. The pathway there is not hard to find or difficult to follow. Something negative happens that grabs our attention and we begin to meditate on it. Soon, we notice other negative things in our lives and in the world around us. We become disgusted, hurt and depressed, and before you know it, life becomes one large and lengthy sigh.

This is exactly where the power of thanksgiving comes in. As we begin to identify the blessings in our lives and give voice to the good things we see; as we open our eyes to the beauty and wonder that surrounds us, is within us, and is us thanks to God, we change the focus of our attention. That simple, but powerful, change opens our eyes to more blessing and beauty and begins to reshape our attitude.

Developing this attitude of gratitude is much more than rehearsing a list of positive affirmations about ourselves. Sure, there is some value to looking at in the mirror, while speaking reminders of our self-worth, but that can easily become a daily narcissistic celebration. Real thanksgiving does more than celebrate us, it celebrates what makes life valuable. It recognizes the power and presence of God, and remembers those who bring goodness into our lives. Thanksgiving affirms the gifts, big and small, that season our lives with grace. It sees what makes life meaningful and gives us the tools to make life sing.

The Bible says that we are to enter God’s gates with thanksgiving. When we begin to offer thanks for life, we take the first steps in bringing our hearts closer to God. God still wants to know our hurts and our pain. God still cares about unjust parts of our lives and the world. Thanksgiving does not limit our ability to seek God’s answer to evil, but it sets the attitude of our heart in the right place to see what God is doing in the midst of painful circumstances and keeps us from losing ourselves to those circumstances.

This Thursday, as we celebrate the national holiday of Thanksgiving, we will have an opportunity to “say grace.” This moment of thankfulness may be just the ticket to seeing life in a new way. Instead of defining our lives by negativity, we can find our identity in God. Rather than adopting a heart that speaks “good grief” we can embrace a spirit of “good grace.”

A chorus I remember singing in church when I was young said, “Count your many blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done.” This Thanksgiving, may you see, count and name your many blessings and may you be filled with Good Grace.

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The real challenge is keeping that focus. Every day, I try to put those three things first in my thoughts and then in my actions, but there are often so many distractions that it is easy to lose focus. The denomination has paperwork it wants. There are meetings to attend, calls to make, and emails to write. Occasionally, there are small fires to put out, and there is the reality that other people think they know your job description better than you do. It the midst of it all, it is hard to attend to what is truly most important.

At one point, early in our ministry, my wife gave me a small cartoon of a man (clearly a pastor) sitting in his chair looking quite frazzled as his wife smiles at him and says, “Always remember dear, Jesus loves you and everyone else has a wonderful plan for your life.” It made me smile, but there was truth in the humor.

Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do and these are just the challenges that come to cloud the more significant responsibilities of ministry, and more importantly, what happens to me, happens to you too. Every calling from pastor to parent, evangelist to engineer, has it’s core foci and its distractions. Each of us must take responsibility for our calling and see that we do not lose our true focus in the midst of a pile of daily details.

Here are some of the tools I use to keep my focus:

1. Put first things first. Make a plan that schedules time for what is most important. There will always be a litany of urgent requests crying out for your attention, but the loudest voice is not always the one to be listening to.

2. Set times each day to check your course. Just like navagaing a trip, it is important to check your position and the path you are taking.

3. Never stop taking direction from God. It is easy to trust in our own management skills to get us though, but God’s way is not always our way, and while we may “get through” on our own, we may miss the greater blessing God has in store if we follow his path.

4. Learn to say, “no.” All of us want others to like us and we can give in to unnecessary, and sometimes unrealistic, expectations in order to make others happy. It is good to care about other people, but only we can take responsibility for our calling. We must do what we were called to do and that may mean not doing some things others think we should do.

5. Learn from mistakes and practice grace. At the end of the day, if you realize that you lost focus on your way, discover what pulled you away and prayerfully discern how to bolster that part of your life and ministry to protect it from another occurance in the future. Don’t give up or give in to frustration. Accept that you are human, trust in the love of God and look to the Holy Spirit to guide you forward.

My grandfather used to say, “Charlie, what gets your attention, gets you.” Since I want God to have me in his hand, I want to give my attention to God. I trust you do too. That is what makes the effort worthwhile.

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All of us wrestle with our identity and would that it were only though our teenage years of self discovery. Many of us are haunted by the question of who we are and what our place is in the world. If the question is left unanswered, we will pursue a myriad of paths to fill the inner void, many of which will lead to pain and destruction.

The glorious truth is, that no matter what the world around us may say, our identity and worth is not determined by what we possess, by where we’ve come from or by what others think of us. Instead, it is fixed in knowledge that we are created in the image of God. We bear God’s mark upon us and, even more affirming, we are loved by the One whose image we bear.

Our craving to understand who we really are is satisfied by drawing near to God and allowing God to draw near to us. It is when we cease from our striving to find validation in temporal things or the affirmation of others, and accept the awesome love of the Creator, that we can discover the answer we long to find. It is God, the One who calls us by name, who declares that we are of infinite worth.

Sometimes, amid the many voices around me that tempt me to embrace another reality, I need reminded that my hope, my identity is is God. Maybe, you too wrestle to know who you are. Maybe, you too are tempted to look in places that can never satisfy. Today, we can together make a decision to celebrate who we are and like Brother Thomas declare, “I am one loved by Christ.”

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We had a wonderful time which was only multiplied by a Steeler win. Shouting at the same plays, cheering for the same players and enjoying some familiar foods made the time very special. The decorations were black and gold and Terrible Towels were all around. It was a perfect afternoon and in moments I felt like I was back in my hometown. Even now, I still feel a little homesick in the most positive way.

As I’ve thought about the time we shared and how great it feels to connect with friends, roots and a significant part of my identity, I thought about the many ways that I connect with my deeper identity as a Christian. Moments spent with other members of the family of God, focused on the goals of the kingdom and encouraging one another make for deep connections with the One in whom our faith is grounded. Sometimes it is the rituals, the familiar words and the holy places that help to remind us of our citizenship in heaven.

It feels great to know that there is still a great deal of my hometown still in me and that there are people to share the experience with. It is amazing that there is a part of heaven and the presence of the Holy Spirit in me and other members of the family of God to share the experience with.

I thank God for friends, family and sense of place, both here and in eternity. It is a blessing to allow the symbols of home to lead us to a deeper experience of our identity, our connection to others, and our place with God.

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