3 Kernels of Corn and the Gratitude that Builds Trust

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Gratitude builds our trust in a good God. And speaking our gratitudes out loud, even spending the time reaching for them in the recesses of our mind, gives us a dopamine drip and a serotonin rush which helps build new neural pathways. Most importantly, gratitude reminds us we sit at the table of God.

Psalm 78 confronts us with how easy it is to speak against God and ask, “Can God set a table in the wilderness?” On the hard days we struggle to remember. It’s human. But, what if we kept a journal, like Ann Voskamp’s 1000 gifts, and on the hard days, we perused the pages and found the goodness of God printed in our own handwriting? Or what if we used a holiday primed for this, Thanksgiving, to speak the stories of gratitude into each other’s lives, to pass the goodness of God from one generation to another just like we do the mashed potatoes. This simple ritual, three kernels of corn, is our own family’s way of doing just that.

I found them in her dining room tucked into a lowboy drawer: a sandwich sized Ziploc bag of corn kernels.  As my fingers squeezed the bag, I looked around at the china hutch still full, her table shrunk small. She had passed away just a week before. Although she was red-haired, her temper only rose in protection. She was someone you wanted to have in your corner, loved to have in your corner.

Her funeral was packed. I had choked out the eulogy and together Andrew and I had handed out the bread and the wine. 

 

Read the rest of the story on Anglicanpastor.com here:

 

 

Now let’s sit down at a table for  A thanksgiving examen of sorts:

The larger question is this: Where did God set a table for you this year? I’ll break it down into small questions and I know you may be sitting in the carpool line or jogging the neighborhood but You may want to take out a sheet of paper as I ask these questions. Jot down notes. Sketch some thoughts and later fill them in.

Start with prayer: You Are Here. Help us to remember your goodness today. Help us to remember each gift, take it out in Your Presence and look at it with you. 

Start here:

 

1. What person walked with you this year?

2. What place nurtured you? It could be your backyard garden, the Starbucks that feels like cheers, or the body of Christ gathered as a small group in your friend’s living room. What place nurtured you?

3. Where did you witness beauty this year?

 

 

The answers to these questions could be from this year, but they could be from a different year, just let the answers come:

This year:

What made you feel playful?

 

What made you feel serene?

 

What made you feel nurtured?

 

What made you feel confident?

 

What made you feel appreciated?

 

When were you good-tired because you had done good work?

 

What made you feel hopeful?

 

What energized you?

 

When did you feel creative?

 

When did you learn something new?

 

What made you feel content?

 

What made you feel joyful?

 

Remember a time you recognized that God cared about you.

 

Remember a time the good Shepherd went after you when you went astray.

 

Remember a time when God met you in a season of pain.

 

Remember a time of growth, of stretching, body, soul, or spirit.

 

Remember a time you loved well and it was received.

 

Remember a time you loved well and it was unknown.

 

Remember a time when you were awed by creation. A time you were awed by the Creator.

 

Remember a time you recognized you were not alone. 

 

 

This is bread, friends, manna, the full-table of God. Taste and see that God is good.

 

With great Thanksgiving, we lift up to You all of this manna, gathered and left ungathered, all of this abundance, acknowledged and left unremembered. 

 

You are so very good to us. Increase in us the ability to live a life of overflowing gratitude. In Jesus’ name Amen.

 

 

Join us in a Thanksgiving Practice on The Presence Project facebook group:  10 Cups of Tea

All photos from unsplash: Hannah Busing, Debby Hudson, Gabriel Garcia