–Psalm 107:30 (RSV)
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Psalm 131, what a psalm and prayer to begin the month of December with!  It speaks of a quiet and calm spirit, a trusting soul, and a simple faith.

          1 — LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty; neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me.
          2 — Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.
          3 — O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forever.  (NKJV)

What a simple pronouncement of faith.  It was John Bunyan who said, “Hope is never ill when faith is well.”  If our hope wavers or despairs it is because we are weak in our faith.  Perhaps our faith is weak because we hope and put our trust in the wrong things.  If that is so, it is idolatry.  Listen, there are things that you’re never going to have in life, places you’re never going to go, and dreams that are never going to be fulfilled.  The things once thought important are no longer attainable for one reason or another.  As David implies in this psalm, let go of things that do not matter, things that hold you down, things that are not really all that important.  In other words, get rid of self-centeredness and focus on God.
     Focus not on the things that you cannot control, but on God and the things that are under your control.  There is a great little prayer that AA use, but it is fitting for all of us.  “Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”  David purposes to be still and quiet before God.  He waits upon the Lord in calm expectation–He is there.  Like a child who has been weaned, he still must depend upon his parents to bring him proper nourishment.  He still must trust his parents for everything.  As Steven Lawson points out, “This is to be the position of the believer, quietly submissive and trusting in God.”
     Lawson writes, “Childlike trust always has an element of hope.  As a person trusts in God, a positive confidence in God regarding the future floods his soul.”  Our hope is in the Lord, that must also be where our faith rests.  The foundation of faith and hope is found in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (NKJV)  I recall the words of the grand old hymn:

          “My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
          I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”
                    –Edward Mote

     Our contentment is not in circumstances or material goods, or gain in our career.  Our contentment is to be in the Lord.  Our hope must be based in Him from this time forth and forever.  J. Oswald Sanders said, “There is no conceivable situation in which it is not safe to trust God.”  God is always worthy of our full trust.

          “He came down to earth from heaven
          Who is God and Lord of all,
          And his shelter was a stable,
          And his cradle was a stall:
          With the poor and mean and lowly
          Lived on earth, our Savior holy.”
                  –Cecil Frances Alexander

                    –Elmer Kelton  (The Pumpkin Rollers)

       “Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre!”

                    –Psalm 147:7 (ESV)
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          “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
          Praise Him, all creatures here below;
          Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;
          Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”
                    –Thomas Ken

As I was sitting around the campfire yesterday, pondering on what to write, the words of the above hymn kept flowing through my mind.  Simple song, yet the words are full of meaning.  “Praise!”  WOW, what a meaningful word and often used in a trivial way.  We give praise far too often to mediocre individuals and events.  But then, perhaps the person voicing the praise is one of those mentioned in Proverbs, and I’m not speaking of the person of wisdom.  
     The Oxford Dictionary isn’t much help–“the expression of approval or admiration for someone or something.”  It doesn’t really do God honor and justice.  God is worthy of praise.  It refers to lifting Him up in our mind; an action and purpose of the will.  We have to will ourselves to praise God.  Someone said this about praise, “It is the joyful recounting of what God has done for us.  Praise and Thanksgiving go hand in hand…  Praise is the acknowledgment of all the wonderful, righteous deeds of God.”
     One of the most important aspects of praise is that of thanking God for His blessings in our lives.  We could spend hours discussing all that He has done from us from our first breath to where we are currently in life.  Oh, some may scoff at this and say that God has never done anything for them, but they think too small.  Breath, gravity, the systems of physics and the body–the natural world declares His wonder and without them life could not exist.  I wonder, and I include myself, if we have ever thanked God for gravity.  I’m sure Sir Isaac did, but imagine life without it.
     Thank Him for His creation, thank Him for the starry sky and the wonders of the heavens.  Thank Him that He is your heavenly Father and He cares for you.  Thank Him for the Son, Jesus Christ, and what He has done for man to bring him back in relationship to God by offering Him redemption.  Thank Him for the promise of the Holy Spirit who is sent to guide us into all truth.  With each of these we could spend hours thanking God and there have been countless books written about theology.
     One more thought–as you sit down to partake of the bounty that will be set before you on Thanksgiving, use it as an opportunity to thank God for the “blessed hope.”  One day we will be at the great supper in heaven united once again with loved ones and friends.  Talk about fellowship and feasting, but I would implore you now to thank God of what is to come.  The words of Revelation 19:9 end thusly, “These are the true words of God.” (NIV)
     This will be the last Echo until December.  Take time this Thanksgiving season to be thankful for all that God has blessed you with.  Take time to ponder, not merely voice words.  In closing this morning‘s note I leave you with Psalm 113:1-3 (NIV), and perhaps it wouldn’t be too far wrong after you read it the first time, to read it again substituting “praise” with “thanks.”

          1 — Praise the LORD.  Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.
          2 — Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore.
          3 — From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets the name of the LORD is to be praised.

                    –Isaiah 40:29 (KJV)
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The end is near, the trip is almost over.  You think there would be joy and excitement, but then after climbing one hill you discover there’s still another to climb.  The knees get weak and buckle.  The same is trying to walk this journey of life bearing the burden of sin.  Oh, what a burden reliever is Christ.  Look at Psalm 130 and gain hope and renewed vigor for the rest of the trek.
   
          1 — Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD;
          2 — Lord, hear my voice!  Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
          3 — If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
          4 — But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.
          5 — I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word do I hope.
          6 — My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning–yes, more than those who watch for the morning.
          7 — O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption.
          8 — And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.   (NKJV)

     Remember that this is a song of ascent, not descent.  Woe to the one who quits now and begins to walk back down the trail.  Continue on, hearken to God’s word, rely upon His mercy.  During the day and at night when the traveling is over take time to repent and confess your sins.  It will help your soul get back on the right track.  Strength is gone, but there is the hope in Christ that He will forgive and lift you up.   Notice the psalmist is desperate–“hear my voice!”  
     Sometimes you find yourself in a situation not of your making.  You are tripped, you get caught in a snare, you fall over a rock or root in the path.  Other times you just plain have given into temptation.  Your sinful desires took you astray.  However, “At all times you must take responsibility for your feelings no matter how you crashed.” (George Wood)  If not, we could fall into sin, but reacting wrongly to the situation not of our creation.  Now get this–God is with you and is fully willing to forgive!   As Steven Lawson said, “If God kept a record of sins, never to forgive them, no one could stand with acceptance before Him.”  Aren’t you glad He doesn’t keep score?   It is His nature to forgive if we come to Him humbly.  “The result of true forgiveness is never a lackadaisical attitude but holy fear toward God.  Divine pardon, rightly understood and humbly received, will always lead to deep reverence for God.” (Lawson)  
     What a psalm for this Thanksgiving season.  God forgives!  If we ask, He is ready and willing.  I like what George Wood says, “The Lord does not offer empty words or incomplete solutions to your need.”  There is full forgiveness, full restoration, full reconciliation.  “He brought me out of the miry clay.  He set my feet on the Rock to stay; He puts a song in my soul today, A song of praise, hallelujah.” (H.L. Gilmour)
     Notice that the psalmist waits as eagerly as the watchman waits for the dawn.  That was the time when they would be relieved of the burden of the night.  They looked forward to that respite just as we can when we call upon the Lord.  We put our hope in Him.  We rest in His love and He brings peace to our soul.  There is another side-note at the end of this psalm:  the redemption of Israel.  There will come a day when those of the covenant will finally receive Jesus as the Messiah and then God will restore them.  “He himself will free Israel from every kind of sin.” (NLT)
   
               “In tenderness he sought me, weary and sick with sin,
               And on his shoulders brought me back to his fold again.
               While angels in his presence sang
               Until the courts of heaven rang.”
                       –W. Spencer Walton

                    –Stephen Bly  (Beneath a Dakota Cross)

       “‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I hope in Him!'”
                    –Lamentations 3:24(NKJV)
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The year is almost over so if you have things that needs doing in the year, you best be doing them or you won’t have time to be doing them.  Does that make sense?  In other words if there are things that must be completed before the year is out, get them done.  Things like fulfilling a vow or a resolution, writing a long overdue letter or note, calling a friend, sitting down with the family.  Let me harp on that for a moment.  The family, the first institution ordained by God, is often the most neglected.  Career, phones, school activities, church activities, and just plain old busyness can get in the way of family life.  Those are supposed to enhance and encourage and help families, not be a hindrance.  So think about it this Thanksgiving time.  Don’t just sit with them on Thanksgiving, be a part of each other’s lives.  If you can’t work your schedule around your family then perhaps you need to review your schedule.  
     I like to take time during the Thanksgiving week to reflect and remember.  Reckon I’ll sit by the fire next week and listen for those “Echoes” of other times, seasons, and places.  As the flames go upward and flicker my mind might wander to Thanksgivings of the past, or just other instances of which I need to always be thankful.  We must never forget that in times of sorrow and tears that the Lord is good.  In times of quandary and questions–the Lord is good.  In the midst of tribulations, storms, and battles–the Lord is good.  In the seasons of life and seasons of the year–the Lord is good.  In times of bounty and plenty–the Lord is good.
     One thing I’m thankful for is the love of my wife.  One of the people I’m thankful for is that same person.  I read something this week that struck me and I want to pass it along.  Husbands you better heed and ponder this!  “Your wife is the only person who has ever loved you for who you are.  Your mom loves you because you are her son, your siblings love you because you are their brother, your children love you because you are their father.  But your wife is on another level.”  Something I’ll be pondering and reflecting on when I listen for the Echoes from the Campfire next week.
     I mention a campfire since it has become a tradition that Annie and I along with Kimberly’s family go camping Thanksgiving week.  We have been doing this for a number of years.  Yes, I know that it is supposed to rain on Thanksgiving; it will not be the first time.  We have been at Lake Livingston the past few years, so Annie and I have become “day-campers.”  
     “Over the river and through the woods, To grandmother’s house they come…”  Not quite right, but it fits.  Except for the camping at Thanksgiving most of the time the grandkids come to Grandma’s cottage in the woods.  We’re so thankful that the Lord has allowed us to live where we do where three of the four grandkids can come out any time they are able.  The seasons of life have changed and Annie and I no longer travel to Grandma’s house, we are those folk.  So this Thanksgiving, listen for the Echoes; reflect on the goodness of the Lord and the seasons past.
          “Over the river and through the woods,
               Trot fast, my dapple gray!
               Spring over the ground,
               Like a hunting hound!
          For this is Thanksgiving Day.”
                   –Lydia Maria Child