Gratitude

Chris Scott talked Sunday night about gratitude. There were different areas mentioned, including being grateful for our stuff, our church and a relationship with our God.

One of the things that has really been sticking with me and caused me to consider was the idea of being grateful about our church. Chris said that there is a need this place (the church) fulfills that is not being met anywhere else; that is why we come to this place.

This thought really stuck with me because it is so simple and true, yet the awareness of it becomes more faint the longer we are part of a church body. For me, this is why I came to this place, but I had lost awareness of that simple truth. The first night I attended, I came because I was seeking worship, I wanted to be fed and encouraged, I wanted community, I wanted to be part of something that was actually addressing the need for God in my peer group. It was a feeling very real for me, something I carried with me until I couldn't ignore it anymore, something that forced me way outside my comfort zone to find an answer for it. I can say that I did feel called to this place, and that I felt so overwhelmingly grateful for this place that was meeting a need I could not silence anywhere else.

As time has passed, the sharpness of the awareness dulled. Part of it is due to the fact that I am a part of something that was fulfilling those needs, so the painful edge went away. But sitting there Sunday night, when Chris spoke those words, I felt the complete weight of them. That is the reason I continue to come every Sunday, why my soul is drawn there even when my body and mind are weary. Needs of mine are being met at that place, within that body of Christ followers, that are not being met anywhere else in my life.

For that, I must say thank you to all of the people who come together to be a part of it. We are blessed to be a part of this. To those who gather and worship together and learn to grow together, my gratitude. And to those of you who feel a call to serve and make this place possible, my gratitude for you and for this place we share.

Consider what first brought you to seek out this place.