"THANKS-HOARDING"

 

When you have lived all of your adult life “responding” to emergency calls they often run together and I can only remember certain calls when I trip over their memories that I have left lying around on the floor of my mind.  I tripped this morning and this call came to mind. 

The “beeper” blared it’s obnoxious tone and immediately I responded to the report of a structure fire with heavy smoke showing.  As I pulled up on the road in front of the structure I identified it as a double wide trailer, clear of exposures on all sides with heavy smoke from the front windows. 

Another volunteer firefighter was already on scene dressed in turn-out gear.  I quickly donned my bunker pants, threw on my jacket and swung my Drager air pack over my head and buckled it in place.  I reached behind me turned the wheel on the air pack allowing the compressed air to flow through my mask.  Reaching back over my shoulder I pulled my red nomex hood over the top of my head and then strapped on my helmet.  I slid my hands into my fire-gloves and I was ready to rock.

By this time the engine had pulled up in the front yard and someone had pulled an inch and three quarter hose to the front door.  As my partner and I approached the door I patted the top of my helmet and yelled through my mask “Gim’me water”! 

On our hands and knees we opened the door and crawled inside.  The smoke was intense.  You could literally not see your hand in front of your mask.  We had learned to “see” with our hands so with one hand cradling the hose I reached out my other hand and “looked” for the wall.  Only inches to my right I felt what I thought was the wall.  Reaching to my left I felt what I assumed was another wall.  We must be in a hallway. We continued on down the “hallway” dragging the hose.  As yet we had not “seen” nor felt the fire. 

 “Bill, this is crazy”! My partner yelled.  The ”hallway” seemed to wind its way through the house instead of going in straight lines like most hallways.  We continued on until we faced the dragon and quickly put him to sleep. 

After the fire was extinguished and the smoke cleared I experienced my first encounter with “hoarding”. The “hallway” we had entered was in actuality stacks and stacks of books, magazines, cloths, yard sale items and various piles of “junk”.  These things were stored in cardboard boxes and in most places, throughout the house, stacked to the ceiling. Only a tiny trail led from one room to the next. 

 I’m sure to the owner of the home, these things were good, these things were valuable.  But because they were stored, stacked and stashed in his home, because they were “hoarded” they become a hindrance and certainly were no good for anyone. 

Let me see if I can transition here.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day 2012.  Recently, I have been reading the unabridged writings of E.M. Bounds.  In that work he explained the difference as he understood it, of gratitude and thanksgiving.  He stated that, “Gratitude is an involuntary, inward emotion of the soul while thanksgiving is the voluntary expression of that gratitude”. He further states that “Gratitude is felt in secret while thanksgiving is an open expression of that feeling”. 

Without a doubt, we all receive the benefits of the blessings of God.  Many of us stop long enough to recognize that involuntary emotion of gratitude.  We may even be cognizant of the fact that we should not only be grateful for the things that God does for us but also for “who” God is and what it means to be loved by an all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present God.  A few, oh Lord, an ever decreasing few, will even experience that personal relationship with the Holy Trinity and experience that involuntary, overflowing, gratitude inside our hearts. 

However, I suggest to you this morning, dear reader, that we have become “Thanks-hoarders" instead of “Thanks-givers”. We hold that gratitude in our hearts and do not in any way express it openly. 

Someone has said that we must be “thanks-livers” as well as “thanks-givers”.  We must voluntarily express to God and to others our thankfulness to Him by the things we say and the way we live. 

 I hope I can do that tomorrow.  I hope I can do that throughout this coming year.  I don’t want to hoard up all my gratitude inside myself, doing no good for anyone and becoming actually a hindrance to myself.  I want to express and communicate that gratitude to those I meet.  I want to voluntarily give my offering of thanks to God.