“Set your minds on things above…and be thankful” (Colossians 3:2, 15b)

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost… 

Are you ever burdened with a load of care? 

Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? (J. Oatman)

Has 2020 left you feeling “tempest tossed” and “bear[ing]” much? We don’t know how hard this virus will strike in the winter, what community restrictions might be renewed, when the unemployment check will arrive, whether the job will stay secure, or when the divisions in this country will be healed. Such a “load of care.” 

Understandably, we have grown discouraged, if not depressed. Paul urges a reorientation: “set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (3:2). That is challenging: the CNN newsfeed beckons, the kids need help with the Zoom interface, the household budget demands attention. How well does my handling of my “load of care” align with my Real ID? What can motivate me to “set [my] mind on things above”?

Thanksgiving - that’s what.  “Count your many blessings; name them one by one, / And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”

I’m not counseling a “pie in the sky” fantasy that ignores real burdens. I’m suggesting a deliberate accounting of the blessings you have experienced since March. Go old school: get out pencil and paper, and start a list. If it’s difficult to pick out blessings as you survey these painful months, start here: we are “dearly loved by God…[and] have been raised with Christ” (3:12,1). Ok, put down the pencil, and ponder that. Remembering what we have been forgiven of, realizing we had nothing to do with our salvation, and knowing a home in heaven is assured should jump start the very reorientation Paul urges. 

We’re approaching a season of thanksgiving, but honestly, the hallmark of our Real ID should be perpetual gratitude. “So, amid the conflict whether great or small, / Do not be discouraged; God is over all. / Count your many blessings; angels will attend, / Help and comfort give you to your journey's end.” We may find it difficult to thank God for the difficult year we have had, but we can thank Him for going through it with us.

Have we been so preoccupied with the election, balancing working from home with monitoring Zoom classrooms, worrying about the health of older relatives, that we have forgotten to thank God for the gifts of His presence and Word, for the blessings of His provision in Covid-time, for the beauty of His creation? Opportunities for thankfulness abound: “whatever you do…give thanks to God” (3:17). 

© “Count Your Blessings,” Johnson Oatman, 1897