The Power of Perspective: When Uncle Frank Meets the Holy Spirit at Thanksgiving

Hey friends, welcome back to the podcast. I've got a story for you that I think is going to hit home, especially with Thanksgiving just around the corner.

So last week, I'm sitting in this community board meeting. Now, this is an open board meeting, which means any member can attend and add items to the agenda for discussion. And let me tell you, things got... interesting.

I'm watching these two grown adults argue about whether a fence should be six feet or six-and-a-half feet tall. And I'm not talking about a polite disagreement. I'm talking Supreme Court level intensity here. The accusations started flying. Someone actually shouted, "This is illegal!"

Illegal. A volunteer board. People serving their neighbors. Apparently running a criminal enterprise over twelve inches of chain link.

And I'm sitting there thinking, "This is exactly what my Thanksgiving table is going to look like in two weeks."

Read the full article here

The fence debate? That's fictional. But the tension, the accusations, the shift in perspective when one person spoke up in this story? That all actually happened.

Host: Rodney Cox

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Transcript

00;00;20;22 - 00;00;41;16

Hey, friends, welcome back to the podcast. Boy, do I have a story for you that I think is going to hit home, especially with Thanksgiving just around the corner. So just last week, I'm sitting in a community board meeting. Now, this is what we call an open board meeting, which means that any member can attend and add items to the agenda for discussion.

00;00;41;19 - 00;00;44;07

And let me tell you, things got interesting.

00;00;44;07 - 00;01;12;19

I'm watching. These two grown adults argue about whether a fence should be six feet or 6.5ft tall. And I'm not talking about a polite disagreement. I'm talking Supreme Court level intensity here. The accusation started flying. Someone actually shouted, this is illegal. take an illegal, volunteer board.

00;01;12;22 - 00;01;20;19

People serving their neighbors. And we're apparently running a criminal enterprise over 12in of chain link.

00;01;20;19 - 00;01;34;21

And as I'm sitting there, I'm thinking this is exactly what my Thanksgiving table is going to look like in two weeks, and maybe even yours. So that's why I thought I would cut this podcast.

00;01;34;21 - 00;02;01;16

You know what's wild? I looked up some statistics about this. And according to the American Psychological Association, nearly 40% of Americans report increased stress during the holidays and family gatherings, and that it's a primary source of that stress. Another study found that 25% of people avoid family holiday gatherings all together because they expect tension and conflict.

00;02;01;16 - 00;02;19;24

And here's my favorite one. Searches for how to avoid politics at Thanksgiving spikes by over 300% every November. We have literally turned gratitude season into survival season. How in the world did we get here?

00;02;19;24 - 00;02;40;04

Let me get back to that board meeting for a minute, because something happened that completely changed everything in that meeting, just when I thought someone was about to flip the table, literally, or at least a very strong worded agenda, was following this quiet gentleman in the front row raised his hand.

00;02;40;06 - 00;02;52;28

He didn't yell. He didn't make accusations. He simply said, friends, we want the same thing. We want to serve our neighbors well. Could we remember that for a moment?

00;02;52;28 - 00;03;14;21

That room went silent. It was like someone had pressed a cosmic pause button. The perspective shifted suddenly. Fence gate 2025. At least that's what I'm calling. It looked a lot less like a federal case, and a lot more like neighbors who actually cared deeply about doing the right thing.

00;03;14;24 - 00;03;21;08

They were just seeing the problem from a completely different angle or perspective.

00;03;21;08 - 00;03;41;18

And that gentle gentleman reminded me of someone else. Someone who lives in each and every one of us who follow Christ. You know who I'm talking about? The Holy Spirit, that still small voice that whispers, maybe this isn't the hill to die on.

00;03;41;18 - 00;03;49;13

You know, that one that we conveniently ignore when we're on a roll explaining what our green bean casserole recipe is?

00;03;49;13 - 00;03;52;17

Objective. The really superior to Aunt Margaret's.

00;03;52;17 - 00;04;12;06

Now, here's the thing about Thanksgiving dinner. And I know you know this. We're all coming to the table with our own perspectives, those perspectives are shaped by our own experiences, our wounds, our fears, and, yes, political views and our newsfeeds and above all, unresolved issues.

00;04;12;06 - 00;04;21;07

Cousin Brad thinks that the mashed potatoes need more butter, and Cousin Jennifer thinks butter is basically poison.

00;04;21;11 - 00;04;22;00

And

00;04;22;00 - 00;04;31;23

somehow this becomes a referendum on personal values, lifestyle choices, and possibly the fate of Western civilization.

00;04;31;23 - 00;04;37;04

We're really ready to sacrifice relationship on the altar of being right

00;04;37;04 - 00;04;43;07

about sweet potato casserole, toppings and green beans.

00;04;43;07 - 00;05;02;13

But what if we listen to that gentle gentleman within us? What if we actually tapped into that same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead? Not to win arguments, but to love people deeply, even when they're wrong about literally everything?

00;05;02;21 - 00;05;33;01

Listen to what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians in chapter two, verse three. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, whether in humility, value others above yourself, not looking to your own interest, but each of you to the interest of the other. Notice Paul didn't add any exceptions. He didn't say unless they bring up politics or except when they criticize, you're cooking.

00;05;33;04 - 00;05;38;24

Or definitely not. When uncle Buck parks in your parking spot.

00;05;39;06 - 00;06;12;24

Here's the beautiful but uncomfortable truth the Holy Spirit is remarkably unconcerned with our need to be right. The spirit is far more interested in us loving each other. The spirit isn't checking our scorecard of who won the last argument. The spirit is working in us to produce fruit that we cannot produce on our own and out of our flesh, like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

00;06;12;26 - 00;06;22;11

That's Galatians five, verse 22 and 23. You might want to print that out and put it on the refrigerator. Is a is a pre Thanksgiving reminder.

00;06;22;14 - 00;06;43;17

So this Thanksgiving, what if we made a different choice? What if when uncle Buck starts his yearly tradition on controversial takes at the turkey table, we listen to that gentle gentleman within us. What if we said, you know what, Frank? Tell me more about that new hobby of you growing tomatoes. I hear they're ginormous.

00;06;43;17 - 00;06;47;10

this doesn't mean that we abandon the truth of our convictions.

00;06;47;13 - 00;06;52;00

It means that we remember that the person across the table is more important than being right

00;06;52;00 - 00;07;13;00

about the thing that we're arguing about. It means that we recognize that the same God who loved us when we were dead wrong literally might be calling us to extend that same grace to the person or people who were wrong about cranberry sauce coming from a can.

00;07;13;00 - 00;07;23;06

Now, to set the record straight, I love canned cranberry sauce. In fact, if Elizabeth forgets to buy it, I'll go to the store and get a can of it. The morning of Thanksgiving.

00;07;23;06 - 00;07;46;16

for those of you that have met me in person, it shows. Okay, I'll be honest about that. The power of perspective is remarkable. It can turn a roomful of enemies into neighbors. It can turn a tense dinner into testimony. It can make Thanksgiving actually about Thanksgiving. So this year, let's draw on that power that raised Christ from the dead to make this the best Thanksgiving ever.

00;07;46;16 - 00;07;48;20

Not because everyone agrees,

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but because we love each other so deeply that it covers a multitude of our sin, and our father gets the glory.

00;07;57;05 - 00;08;03;28

even if uncle Frank still thinks pumpkin pie is overrated and wants everybody at the dinner table to know about it.

00;08;03;28 - 00;08;05;08

And for the record,

00;08;05;09 - 00;08;06;13

he's wrong.

00;08;06;13 - 00;08;08;16

But we love him anyway.