Accentuate the Positive--by Linden Malki

This morning we received word that my daughter-in-law's grandmother had a serious fall and is not expected to survive. My DIL took off immediately for Seattle, and my son David is still going to host our family Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.  In addition to prayers for the family, it is even more important that we get together to be thankful to God for what He does in our lives, even when bad things happen. We cannot expect to never have tough times, but we can realize that God is there with us, giving us the reminder that the difficult times help us appreciate the good things, and can teach us important things that we might not learn otherwise.

We have been reading this week the story of Jesus healing ten lepers, only one of whom came back to give thanks. The point is also made that he was a Samaritan, who had been in conflict with the Jews who returned from the Babylonian captivity to rebuild the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. The Samaritans were remnants of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, who had been conquered by the Assyrians in the 700BC's, who moved many of the original inhabitants out and others from other areas of their empire in, to break their ties with their past. They still had the earliest writings of the Israelite tradition, but worshipped at Mt Gerazim near their own capital city, associated with Joshua's final home. What I find interesting is that most Jews hated the Samaritans, and went out of their way to avoid Samaria in their travels, but Jesus went through Samaria occasionally and had a heart for their salvation as well as the Jews. After Jesus' resurrection and return to Heaven, the Judean authorities tried to wipe out the message of Jesus' followers--who took refuge in Samaria, where they were welcomed and appreciated.

Are we aware of opportunities to express gratitude, first to God (which helps keep our brain straight) and then to our families, in so far as they have appreciated and loved us, and taught us right from wrong. Do we recognize the best of  what friends and neighbors,  employers and co-workers, and even strangers have done for us--and what we have learned good lessons from even the evils that we have been exposed to? Jesus was subjected to the worst of what collusion between his own people and their occupying enemies could do to him, and yet he turned it around to the greatest victory for his followers--even though two thousand years of bad and good having been done in His name. He is the one who can keep us on the path toward the final victory, when we get the answers to all our questions--if the answers are even significant in His presence.