Directionally Challenged

Courtesy of http://thissignhassharpedges.blogspot.com

At the last school I served, we had a running joke in the main office.  Different people would take turns going out to pick up the lunch order for us, but unless it was very close to school, our receptionist would beg out of the trip, because in her words she was "directionally challenged," which made it tough for her to find her way to a particular location, much less find her way back once she had arrived.

Directionally challenged.

I see lots of us--me included--suffering from this problem at this time of year.

We're reminded by others, and we have a sense ourselves that we should "be thankful" . . . that we should take on a positive attitude and focus on all of the good things that have happened to us in our lives.  It's a time to be happy, a time to spread the love, and a time to recognize how good we really have it.  Here are some samples of messages you may hear this week and over the whole holiday season:

“It is impossible to feel grateful and depressed in the same moment.”
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”
"Gratitude is absolutely the way to bring more into your life."
“Be thankful for what you have, you’ll end of having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”
“It isn’t what you have in your pocket that makes you thankful, but what you have in your heart.”

These sentiments aren't evil . . . but they are directionally challenged.

Let me explain.

Generalized feelings of gratitude, joy, and thankfulness are only the beginnings of doing the right thing.  They are only the beginnings because they lack direction.  They fly off into the clouds like buckshot without a target.  They are the equivalent of putting a thank-you card in the mail with no address on it.

The blessings we receive, the people we love, and the good things that make us smile are meant to point us in the right direction.  

They are meant to point us to the one from whom they all originate, our Creator, Redeemer, and Friend.  As the doxology encourages us, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow."

Don't let your life be like the person driving the wrong way down the row of cars in the parking lot on Black Friday.  Don't be directionally challenged in your thanks.

This year, don't just remember to give thanks.

Remember who it is you're thanking.