Happy day after Thanksgiving, Marysville! If you are out shopping, enjoy! If you are not out shopping, well obviously you’re enjoying it. 🎉
☀️Thanksgiving Leftovers
Thanksgiving has eyes. Being thankful is not like looking through a microscope trying to isolate a particular strand of DNA and ignoring everything else, it’s more like walking out of a cave and seeing the sun shining on the whole world in front of you. Gratitude is not a zero sum economy, unlike a pumpkin pie where a larger piece for you means I’m going to need more whipped cream to compensate for my inferior piece. When we give thanks we can see even more reasons to give thanks, including more reasons for others to give thanks, and it really is harder to stop giving thanks than to start.
Thanksgiving is not mere mind games, not a psychological deception against the existence of problems. We shouldn’t teach our kids to be grateful as a way to shut them down; it won’t even work in the long run. When we learn how to give thanks, when we see the kinds of things for which we give thanks, and especially when we grasp that the whole thanks system only works when there is a God who gives good things, we inevitably make distinctions. We distinguish between good and better, wine and well-aged wine, store bought and homemade, haves and have-mores, haves-by-honest-work and haves-by-lying-and-cheating. I can give thanks for what’s good or better or best, all while getting a better picture of all that is wrong.
It’s not only right to be thankful, it’s more interesting, more effective, and more exponential. Thankful people are not only more pleasant to be around and more easy to serve, they make you want to give them more. It’s the unthankful that seem to have no bottom, throwing gifts into the sinkhole is an (appropriate) act of love, but it takes a lot of faith. A thankful person isn’t someone you want to fight with, but someone you want to fight for. “For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance.”
If we mixed some of the above together and baked it as a Thanksgiving leftovers casserole, here’s what it smells like to me.
I am thankful for Marysville. And the more I think about it, the more I think about how good we have it compared to some other local cities. It is way better to be relatively unknown than to have Seattle’s current reputation. So what if our name isn’t as big on the map? You can’t see our homeless encampments from satellites either.
I am thankful for the churches that proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and the good news of salvation for all who believe, for the shepherds and the sheep worshipping the Chief Shepherd.
I am thankful for Mayor Nehring and the City Council of Kamille Norton, Peter Condyles, Mark James, Tom King, Michael Stevens, Kelly Richards, and Stephen Muller. The greater my gratitude, the higher my hopes. I’m thankful for Police Chief Erik Scairpon, and for all the MPD who continue to arrest lawbreakers and avoid the scandals rife in so many other law enforcement agencies around the country.
I am thankful for accessible roads, for the increased traffic (as a sign of our increasing status as a destination), and for all the workers maintaining and improving our ways around town. I am thankful for those who provide dependable electricity and water, as well as for those who take away our trash on a weekly basis. I am thankful for business owners taking risks and providing jobs, as well as for all the employees who do their work with any measure of joy. I am thankful for access to medical services, because even when I have to wait for an appointment, it’s still better than rubbing some leaves in the wound.
So the longer my thanksgiving list gets, the longer I want to work, and the longer I expect it to be next year.
☀️Local Events
Coat Drive - Sponsored by the Marysville Police Department - Monday, November 27, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the Marysville Walmart, located at 8713 64th St. NE. See more information about the coat drive here.
Merrysville for the Holidays - Saturday, December 2. Here’s the event page with more info.
Christmas Concerts (for schools that know what souls are for):
Evangel Classical School: Tuesday, 12/5, 6:30 PM at Word of Life Lutheran Brethren Church
Comeford College Community Choir: Thursday, 12/14, 7:00 PM at Trinity Evangel Church
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If your church or private school would like to have an event posted in the Sun please email us at office@marysvillesun.com
☀️Friday Fun
For your audiovisual enjoyment:
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