Units of measure. We use them every day. There are different standards, but they all relate to each other because an inch is an inch and will always be 2.54 centimeters. I stated it that way because I’m a U.S. American, and we don’t seem to be smart enough to fully adopt the metric system like the rest of the world. Even the English aren’t using English units as much these days. I still can’t figure out why it’s so much harder for me to multiply by tens than it is to multiply by dozens or 16’s or 5,280’s.

But this is not a commentary on the state of U.S. mathematics education.

Why do we use these standards? Because we need to measure our everyday activities against something that is unchanging and inherently true. We have to know that we are running 5 kilometers or buying a gallon of milk or losing 5 kilograms of body weight. Otherwise such activities would be meaningless. They would have no value because we wouldn’t understand the extent of what we have done.

While we can’t measure relationships and life change with aforementioned units, we do need some standard against which we measure ourselves. If you think you don’t, try glancing at magazine covers in the grocery store aisle for a standard of beauty, wealth, or popularity. Granted, not all of us are trying to achieve superstar status. But that unit of measure – whether it be a billionaire businessperson, super model, or singer – is a standard we as humans in general have set up for ourselves. We want to know how we measure up to something. If we don’t, there is no satisfaction. If we don’t, there is no improvement, either.

Because we both need and want some standard for our lives, what should our standard be?

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
1 John 3:1-3

Our standard is Christ. To be Christ-like, we must know what Christ is like.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Philippians 2:5-8

That is who Christ is, and that is how we are to interact with each other.

So we know what is our standard and we know how we should treat our neighbors, but how do we measure our situations in life? Since everyone’s story is different, and everyone’s journey leading up to where we are in this moment is different, is there a standard?

I’m currently reading a book called, “Calm My Anxious Heart” by Linda Dillow. In chapter 10, on dealing with the “What Ifs” in life, I found this quote:

“Am I going to judge God by the circumstances I don’t understand or judge the circumstances in light of the character of God?”

If God is

Infinite – Psalm 93:2
Holy – Isaiah 6:3
Good – 2 Chronicles 7:3
Just – Deuteronomy 32:4
Merciful – 2 Samuel 24:14
Sovereign – Daniel 4:35
Loving – Exodus 15:13
Unchanging – James 1:17

and if He remains God even if the worst happens, I have no reason to worry.

Against what standard are you measuring your self, your circle, and your circumstances?

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
Psalm 100:4

Thanksgiving Day is past. Christmas shopping and decorating has begun, or at least has begun to be thought about. And we are only on the brink of the roller-coaster of holiday stress.

Thanksgiving Day is nice because most of us at least try to pause for a moment to be truly grateful for our blessings. The next day, however, we are swept up in the current of more, bigger, better, or nicer, more thoughtful, more creative gift-giving and -receiving.

The thing is, we don’t need a holiday or season or excuse to be thankful. All we need is a new day. If His mercies are new every morning, so should be our praise.

Psalm 100 admonishes us to “enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise,” and I would like to suggest to myself and to you that His gates are each new day and His courts are your living room as you relax near the lighted Christmas tree and your kitchen as you prepare food for those you love and your car as you run errands and collect gifts.

We don’t need a special place or time to give thanks because He is with us wherever we are, and He is faithful in every moment.

My friend, make every moment a thanksgiving, because, if nothing else, you have that moment. And in that moment, He is real and He is good and He is with you.

Time for a little grammar lesson. I’m not an expert here, so I’m pulling in the smarts from the Cambridge Dictionary website:


When you give something, you can’t just give it. You give it to someone or something. You give your dog a treat. You give the keys to your roommate. You give a meal to a new mom.

Who is the indirect object when you give thanks?

Perhaps you give thanks to your parents for supporting you during a rough season.

You might give thanks to your friends for helping you celebrate life.

To whom do you give thanks for blessings not attributable to a person?

For your health?

For the great family into which you happened to be born?

When you give thanks for these things, consider the indirect object of your gift of thanks.

And I don’t think it really works or even means anything to anyone to give thanks to fate or natural selection. I’m pretty sure they don’t really care.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 118:29

There are so many verses in the Bible telling us to give thanks to the Lord, I had to almost just close my eyes and point to choose one to quote here.

If you’re thinking of spending yet another Thanksgiving in front of the football screen, giving thanks to fate for allowing you to have a large screen TV and a couple of friends to chill with, or if you’re going to spend it giving thanks to fate for allowing you to indulge in gluttony yet again, don’t.

Think for a moment about who might have given you those friends and that food, not because He just picked you at random to have a decent life, but because these things are part of His plan to lavish love on you – you – at this very time and in this very place.

And then give Him thanks.

“We’re not laughing with you; we’re laughing at you.” My dad’s family was quick to remind him that his jokes weren’t funny, so they reversed the idiom. I didn’t realize he wasn’t funny for years. He once stumped me with the chicken and a half riddle. One day it dawned upon me that he told the fish with no “eyes” (i’s) joke to every person who came to visit. Then I connected the dots.

Have you ever laughed at God? I know it sounds disrespectful. Still, I’m pretty sure a goodly portion of us have, at some point, let out a chuckle as if to say, “Good luck, God.”

Sarah laughed at God. She’s eavesdropping into the following conversation.

God’s like, “You’re gonna have a ton of offspring.”

Abraham’s like, “I don’t know, God, ‘cuz I’m like 100 and maybe I still got it but my wife is like 90. 90 in years. 90 years old.”

God’s like, “Yeah, I know, but I’m sticking to what I said.”

And empty-wombed Sarah is just holding on to her seedless gut, “Bahahaha!”

That comes from Genesis 12-18. Check it out.

So God tells you to adopt a child with special needs. And you laugh because you think, I have no life experience or knowledge or patience or even enough love to handle that.
God says, Love on the homeless and the under resourced. Again, you just laugh because that can’t be your calling. You are completely unequipped. These people won’t even want me, you think. I don’t know how to identify with people in these situations.

God asks you to give a larger percent of your income your church and missions, and you laugh, saying, ha! God thinks this is an income!

You laugh because God keeps telling you that He’s preparing you for marriage, but you’ve watched for decades as every man remotely near your age was either married or buried, and you’re left with an empty house and empty heart.

Yes, Sarah laughed at God. And she even had the audacity to deny it. At least we’re smart enough to know He sees everything, even our raw, cynical laughter.

The story isn’t over, though. Has God written the final chapter of your life? Yes, but you haven’t read it yet, have you? I didn’t think so.

God did the impossible and gave Sarah a child at a record-breaking age. She named him Isaac. Why?

Sarah said, “God has given laughter to me. Everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” Genesis 21:6

Sarah laughed at God at first.

Then she laughed with God.

I’m sure our disbelief breaks God’s heart, but He must just laugh sometimes, saying, “Oh, if only you knew what’s next.”

You may be laughing now in disbelief and even pain. But I pray you will laugh later in belief and praise and sheer joy because you can say with Sarah, “God has given laughter to me.”