So Much To Be Thankful For! 😄Day Seven

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."
- Gilbert K. Chesterton -

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Index: ~Day1~ | ~Day2~ | ~Day3~ | ~Day4~ | ~Day5~ | ~Day6~ | ~Day7~

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Day FOREVER:

No, that is not a typo.

Yes, this is Day Seven of my responses to the "7 Day Positivity Challenge" that was launched by Steemian @conradt.

However, today, which happens to be a Sunday, I wish to expand on yesterday's cause of thankfulness.

Yesterday, I shared with you how profoundly grateful I am for the faith that Jesus my God has implanted in my heart, my life, my thinking. But "faith," at least as viewed from outside, is somewhat intangible. You can't exactly see my faith. So, today I want to tell you what I am absolutely persuaded that my faith is leading me to, and that is my hope for the future.

Eternity... Forever... Endless...
Image courtesy of Jeff Golenski and http://unsplash.com

I'm grateful for the hope that Jesus gives me.

I could expound on this endlessly, but I'll start by stating my hope in a few single words:

Life.

Life is precious. However, looking around us, we have to conclude that death is inevitable. The evidence is overwhelming. Every community we visit shares a prominent feature: row upon row of tombstones in a graveyard. Unless we are infants, we all personally know people who have died.

We age, lose strength and health, and within our own bodies, we can feel the oncoming encroachment of death. We can open any newspaper and find the obituary page. History books, including the bible, record that so-and-so was born, lived, and died.

"It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment."- Hebrews 9:27

Jesus has promised me life in abundance, a life that transcends death. He is the pioneer of that path, having been brutally executed on a Roman torture stake (cross). After three days, he rose from the dead and was seen by hundreds of eye witnesses. My faith tells me that, if Jesus was able in six days to create the vast universe that we see, and to create us, and that if he was able to resurrect himself from the dead, he will have no problem bringing me back to life after I have died.

Beauty... Youth... Health...
Image courtesy of Rodolfo Sanches Carvalho and http://unsplash.com

Eternity.

In the long run, what good is life really if it ultimately must end? Yes, I want to live, but I also want the duration of that life to be guaranteed. That's why I opened this article with Day Forever.

Jesus my God has promised me a life that will never end. Can you wrap your mind around that concept?

With all the frenetic effort in the medical field to extend life, with all the talk of The Matrix and possibilities of transferring human consciousness into "the cloud," i.e. into computer memories and processors, aren't we merely kicking the can down the road? Putting of the inevitability of death for just a while longer?

Furthermore, cosmologists speak of entropy, of the final "heat death" of the universe, a time—in the far distant future, to be sure, but it will arrive—when energy is so evenly distributed that everything will come to an ultimate stand-still.

Adventure... Exploration... The Universe...
Image courtesy of Thomas Budach and http://pixabay.com

And so today, I am thankful,

deeply and profoundly, that (entirely by the kind grace of Jesus) I can look forward to an eternal life in a renewed and restored universe, one that will never wear down or wear out, one that is populated with men and women of good will.

"But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."- 2 Peter 3:13

This hope, and joy-filled gratitude for it,

permeate my thinking. I dream of the time to come for his people, when Jesus my God will "...wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore..."

My friend, as I write this to you, I am literally sitting here weeping tears of joy in anticipation of this future. Along with those are tears of hope that, please God, perhaps as you read this your heart will be stirred to read more, to investigate for yourself, and to see if, maybe, just possibly, you might come to share in the same hope? I for one would dearly love to have you join me in the New Heavens and the New Earth that Jesus has promised to bring about.

I have written about this extensively. If you are at all intrigued, please have a look at some of my articles about the future kingdom Jesus has promised:

• Eternity: A Mind-Numbingly Powerful Perspective
• I Will Write The Stories, Celebrating...
• How To Deal With That First, Rough Morning In Heaven...
• Whispering Hope: ~1~ | ~2~ | ~3~ | ~4~ | ~5~ | ~6~ | ~7~ | ~8~

I've written many more, but that's a good sampling for you; visit my Steemit library for others. I hope some of my writing will convey to you my deep sense of excitement and anticipation.

But above all else, go directly to the source.

Pick up a copy of the bible somewhere. Or, if you're reading this on-line, you can access any number of copies of the bible from any number of sources. You'll eventually want to read the whole thing, but if you're looking into the bible for the very first time, or for the first time in a long time, Where do you start?

I'd suggest you start with John's book.

In that relatively short book, you will meet the man who I believe to be God himself. The man who created not only you, but the entire universe as well. That man is Jesus.

Hint: You can read John at Bible Gateway, but I would urge you to click on the little gear icon ⚙️, uncheck all the boxes, and then click on the printer icon 🖨️so that you can read John's story without distractions.

My nominees for the positivity challenge are:

After reading my entries, several have expressed interest in this challenge, and so today I nominate:

@creatr, @dreemsteem, @ablaze

IF, for whatever reason, you do not care to participate, no problem. No pressure. No worries.

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The rules:

• Write a post about something you have to be postive about today - this could be anything from being thankful for your current situation, someone being nice to you, being thankful for your friends and family, or even being thankful for the oppurtunity you have been given here on Steemit - just keep it positive :)
• Do this for 7 days in a row if you get nominated
• Mention three people who should do this on each day.
• Tag it with #7daypositivitychallenge and include these rules at the bottom of your post
• Include a picture of something positive (related to your story if possible.

Note: You can find the original challenge post here:

"7 Day Positivity Challenge" by @conradt

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~FIN~

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P.S. If you have an "in" with anybody at Steemit, Inc. - Would you please ask them to get rid of these damn, extremely annoying "off-website" arrow/boxes? The have, overnight, made Steemit ugly. There are much better solutions.

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For more fantastic stories, CLICK our Library Stories Shelf.

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Introducing: The SILVERengines proton - Image by @creatr
CONTACT US - Will Exchange for Steem

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Thanks for your time and attention.
You are why I'm here on Steemit!
I have very eclectic interests and hope, over time, to write about them all.

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