It’s Sunday!  And as such, today’s musing will be on some of what I’m studying in my Bible.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselveswith compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.  Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

~ Colossians 3:12-17 ~

And I can’t add much to that, so on that note – I’m out…

Just kidding!  It’s my blog, I feel the need to write – duh.

So, on this verse I don’t think there’s one of us out there that doesn’t struggle with these things:  being compassionate to everyone?  That homeless guy on the corner just needs to go get a job.  Saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’?  Holding doors open for people?  Smiling at the attendant at the gas station?  Taking time to listen to a child talk about their day even though you can’t understand them?  That’s so 90s, nobody has time for that.  Humility – not the fake kind?  Pshaw!  Gentleness?  We’re not a gentle society.  Patience?  In this microwave, fast-food, 24-hour everything world we live in?!  And forgiveness?  That has no place in this grievance-based world, so-and-so did me wrong!  I’ll forgive them when they say/prove they’re sorry.  I must have justice!  There is no mercy! (I actually heard that last one from a fellow Christian once and was in such shock I didn’t know how to respond…  I still don’t know.)

We’ve got a lot to work on captured in these short five verses: some we have to work on more than others, and each of us has a different set of strengths and weaknesses in the mix from above.

But, if we want the Peace of the Lord to rule in our lives and in our hearts, we’ve got to try to do it all.  Thankfully we’re not alone, and the Spirit should provide us with the strength we need to do it; and thankfully the Father will forgive us when we fail – but we need to try at the very least.

One of the first things we can do that should help us set the tone in our lives so we can have the Peace of the Lord is to be thankful.  Find something each and every day that you can be thankful for; on days we have difficulty doing so, or when the forces of darkness are sneaking in – it can be as simple as the fact your 6′ above ground instead of 6′ under, the fact we have a sun that provides us with warmth, etc.  Other days we’ll find more, but it starts with a mindset where we focus on things we’re grateful for.  There are even contemporary social studies that show gratitude makes people happier and healthier; so if even the broken world we live in gets it – we should embrace it even more.

There’s other things we need to do to achieve letting the Peace of the Lord rule our lives and hearts: by loving others, being kind, being humble (though in my case, this boat may have already sailed… 🙂 ), being gentle, showing patience, and forgiving others frequently; but I think showing gratitude is a pretty good way to start.

So stay thankful, my friends – and have an awesome week.