I Saw Jesus . . .

I saw Jesus last week.
He was wearing blue jeans and an old shirt. He was up at the building we call our church; He was alone and working hard. For just a minute he looked a little like one of the people who regularly attend our church. But it was Jesus, I could tell by his smile.

I saw Jesus last Sunday.
He was teaching a Bible class. He didn't talk real loud or use long words. But you could tell he believed what he said. For just a minute, he looked like my Sunday School teacher. But it was Jesus, I could tell by his loving voice.

I saw Jesus yesterday.
He was at the hospital visiting a friend who was sick. They prayed together quietly. For just a minute he looked like the guy I saw at the worship gathering last week. But it was Jesus, I could tell by the tears in his eyes.

I saw Jesus this morning.
He was in my kitchen making my breakfast and fixing me a special lunch. For just a minute he looked like my wife. But it was Jesus, I could feel the love from his heart.

I saw Jesus this afternoon.
He was cutting the grass in the community where I live. He was smiling and waving at everyone who was driving down our street. It made me feel special even if it was only for a moment. For a minute, I thought it was just another person we paid to keep our community clean. But it was Jesus. No one else has that much joy.

I saw Jesus tonight.
He was sitting out in the street looking for someone to help him. For a minute he looked like just another homeless person. But it was Jesus. I could tell by the look of sincere suffering in his eyes.

I see Jesus everywhere.
Taking food to the sick, welcoming others to his home, being friendly to a someone who needs love and for just a minute I think he's someone I know. But, it’s always Jesus. I can tell by the way He serves.

May someone see Jesus in you today.

GOING DEEPER:
1. Where have you seen Jesus lately? What was He doing?
2. Ask someone you know when she or he last saw Jesus in you.

HomeWord – WB Journal

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A Reflection on the theme: The Anatomy of Thanksgiving
(By willravilob)

Being thankful is a choice we make.

Being thankful actually changes the physiology of the body, the brain—it changes habits and perspectives.

Being thankful can actually make you see your life differently—and that shift in perspective and outlook creates a different flow for your nervous system, a different default mode for your neurons. The calming effect of thanksgiving can help your heart. That capacity to recognize the golden thread in all circumstances can help you digest food and find energy and desire movement and relationships and new experiences.

Being thankful is not just a jovial celebration with well-prepared program and good lunch done usually during November.

Being thankful is a wise choice—like eating green vegetables, drinking enough water and exercise.

Being “wise”—I mean grounded in life-experiences and in the clear realization that we have done something wrong, lacking in the needed elements of growth, awareness of our stagnation – in quantity and quality of Christian life (and Church life), and lost the proper perspectives of life, and of thanksgiving as well.

Being thankful is having a perspective seasoned by life circumstances and applying lessons learned.

Thanksgiving’s anatomy means you dissect it both from good times and bad times, in plenty and lacking, in triumphs and downfalls, in gaining and losing, in high and low . . . both as a Church and in personal lives.

The anatomy of thanksgiving is to examine to regain the proper perspective of God, and the proper perspective of our condition/circumstances to make thanksgiving functional in everyday life; so that thanksgiving becomes a discipline, an on-going exercise of thankfulness – in form and substance, in talking and walking, in spirit and in truth.

With the proper perspectives in place, thanksgiving takes its surgical operation in our body systems, in our thinking, in our habits and choices, in our lifestyle – transforming it into a disciplined life.

A disciplined life: Walk as Jesus Walked (1 John 2:6) The Great Commission is Everyday Commission (Matthew 28:18-20)

In conclusion: The costly discipleship is the best thanksgiving.