Ugly Turkey Lists

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"

When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

--Luke 17:11-19

Oh, hello there. I was just doing something kind of embarrassing. I'm not sure why I do it, and I wish I could stop. I wonder if you ever catch yourself doing this same thing. It can be a nasty habit.

I was making a list of all the things that are wrong in my life. No, I wasn't actually writing it down or typing it into my journal. That would be weird, right? But I was definitely making the list in my head.

Sometimes the list is quite impressive. I can occasionally come up with a Top 10 that most people would agree are pretty lousy things to have wrong with you. Medical needs. Family crises. Financial struggles. Spiritual lows. All icky stuff. At other times, the list is a little silly. I've got to borrow from past lists and come up with some, you know, not really terrible things just to get the list beefed up a little (e.g., "I can't afford one of those cool-looking new Amazon Kindles!").

So what's the point of this list? Well, that's the embarrassing part. Mostly I use it to justify these little pity parties I like to throw for myself. Or I'll make it Exhibit A to present to my family for why I'm in such a bad mood. Or, worse yet, I wave it like a flag in the direction of God to explain why I'm keeping Him at arm's length today or indulging in a little reckless sin.

I know. It sounds dumb. Maybe you never do that. I mean, it would be one thing to make a list like that so I could show it to God to ask for help with those things. I could present them to Him as requests and trust Him with the answers. (See Philippians 4:4-8.) But that's not really where my head's at when I'm listing these things.

But wait! It gets worse. I'm making this list in my head on the day. before. Thanksgiving. Can I get a "duh!" (Thank you, brother.) This week is all about making a very different kind of list -- a list of things to be thankful to God for. And you and I both know that giving thanks should be a lot more than an annual tradition for Jesus-followers.

Did you read the passage at the top of this page? If I put myself in the story today, I'd be one of the nine turkeys that didn't know how to say thanks to Jesus for the greatest gift of their lives. They call out, "Have pity on us!" He does better than that and heals them all. But only one guy comes back to say "thanks."

Okay, so I'm making a familiar old choice again. I'm taking everything on my self-pity list (and it's a good one today), and I'm turning it over to God as a bunch of requests. He can say yes, no, or wait to each one. I'm choosing to be okay with whatever He says for now. And I'm going to work to build another list. And I do mean work. It's not easy to turn this mental/spiritual ship around. Sometimes I have to start small and obvious.

Things I'm thankful to God for right now:

1. A working Internet connection
2. PlanetWisdom.com
3. iTunes playing music I like
4. I don't have leprosy.
5. I don't have any terminal illness.
6. I like almost everyone in my family -- and they mostly like me.
7. Tomorrow's football, pumpkin pie, and turkey
8. That I can't even remember most of the things on my really old self-pity lists
9. I have been made clean from my sins by the blood of Jesus
10. My wife and son make me laugh at least once a day, usually more
11. I have peace with God right now through Jesus
12. I stand in God's grace in spite of all my ugly list making
13. God is making me new, like Jesus
14. Anyone actually still reading this list. :)
15. Um . . .

Clearly, this list is going to get kind of long. Instead of asking you to keep reading my list, why not make one of your own and post it in the comments section to help us all start thinking gratefully? It's okay if Thanksgiving is over by the time you see this. It's never too late to say thanks to God for anything -- even if you started out the day as an ungrateful turkey.