A Sunday school teacher pointed to a large plant in the room and asked her young students, “Who made those beautiful flowers grow?” A boy eagerly responded, “God did!” The teacher was pleased by the response, but before she had a chance to comment, another boy shouted, “But fertilizer sure helps!”

The second boy touched on the profound reality of the partnership between God and man in our development. Although God is the Creator, He expects us to procreate, or keep it going forward. He plants His Holy Spirit within us, but we must act on His promptings. There is a human-divine connection in God’s plan for our growth.

Paul understood this, and wrote, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). Pray for a good harvest, but keep on hoeing.

An old whaling captain told the story of the time he had been sailing into a hard wind all morning, making little headway. About noon the idea suddenly came to his mind, ‘Why battle these waves? There are probably just as many whales to the north as to the south.” Immediately he changed the course of his ship. One hour later he overtook four lifeboats containing fourteen sailors, the only survivors of a shipwreck. They had been adrift ten days, praying frantically for rescue. They could not have survived another day.

The old whaler said, “I am convinced God put that idea into my mind to change the course of my ship. You see, I begin every day of my life with a prayer that God will use me to help someone else – and He does!”

The Living Bible says, “Strange as it seems, we Christians actually do have within us a portion of the very thoughts and mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). What are you asking God to do through you?

A newly-hired salesman stunned his supervisors with his first report, for it revealed that he was almost illiterate. He wrote: “I seen this outfit who aint never got a dimes worth of nuthin from us an sole dem sum goods.” But before he could be fired, a second letter arrived. It read: “I came to Chicawgo an sole dem haff a millyon.”

The sales manager dumped the problem into the president’s lap. The next day the staff was amazed to see the salesman’s letters on the bulletin board, with this memo: “We ben spendin two much time tryin to spel good insted a tryin to sell. I want everbody should read these letters from Gooch, who is doin a grate job, and you should go out and do like he done!”

Could it be that we Christians are spending too much time trying to get our theology correct and not enough time selling Jesus to people? He is the only solution.

Paul said it like this: “My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Corinthians 2:4). Let’s live like Jesus and others might be interested in Him.

Today I’m out of the office and spending time with family. Our daughter and grandchildren will be here from Nashville, Tennessee, and this is the alternate year when they spend Thanksgiving with us. We clearly remember the pressure we put on our kids when they were little to go to both our parents’ house on both Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. They never got to enjoy their cousins for very long at either place. So, we decided not to do that to them.

Each year, Anita and I host the Thanksgiving dinner with our kids and grandkids, and the next year they go to the other side of the family. Then we alternate also between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. That way it takes pressure off families cutting their visit short and running off, and has worked well for our family. Last year it allowed us to bring both Anita’s Mom and my Mom home for quiet Thanksgiving dinner.

Sometimes its better to compromise a little to gain a little more quality time. And grandparents should help set that up for our children and grandchildren. Might that work for you? Happy Thanksgiving.

I remember Thanksgiving Day 1967. I was stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky and had a 4-day pass starting Wednesday evening. I caught a bus into Louisville, Kentucky, then quickly transferred to another bus to Indianapolis. This bus stopped at every little burg along I-65. When I finally arrived in Indianapolis, I had a two-hour layover before catching the next bus north to Fort Wayne. Coincidentally, I bumped into a former high school classmate coming home from IU and we rode the bus together to Fort Wayne.

So, I arrived at the Fort Wayne Greyhound station in the wee hours of the morning and my Dad picked me up in his car. Was it all worth it? I think we were both too tired to say much on the ride back to Butler. But we were both awake by the time Mom got the turkey out of the oven the next day. It was a lot of effort to come all the way home for just a couple of days, but well worth it to reconnect with my family.

I would love to sit down to a Thanksgiving dinner again with my parents. I miss them both. Now, I’m the grandparent and everyone wants to come to my house and upset my routine. And I’m so thankful my parents put up with all that as they did.

You won’t always have those family members with you. Cherish every minute. Its worth the sacrifice.

In her book The Key to a Loving Heart, Karen Mains tells a parable about the church titled ‘The Brawling Bride”. She tells about the most looked forward to part of a wedding ceremony. The families had been seated. The groom and his attendants were in their places. The minister was waiting, black book in hand. The bridesmaids had come down the aisle. The organ began the bridal march, and everyone rises and looks expectantly for the bride to enter. Then a gasp erupts from the crowd.

The bride is limping. Her gown is ripped and covered with mud. Bruises show on her arm. Her nose is bloody and one eye is purple and swollen. Her hair is a mess. In the parable the groom is Christ. “Doesn’t He deserve better than this?” the author asks. His bride, the church, has been fighting again.

Ridiculous? Not when we look around at actual churches where opposing groups sit on opposite sides of the church, or when one faction worships upstairs while the other faction worships downstairs in the same church. The Bible calls us to unity (1 Corinthians 3:1-9; Ephesians 4:3; Philippians 2:1-4; Colossians 2:2).

Let’s all help the bride get cleaned up. The groom is waiting.