What are you thankful for? I’m thankful for family, for friends, for health, for interesting work, for insightful travel and for good food, among many other things. This is a perfect week to take a few quiet minutes to reflect on the Lord’s goodness in your life.
It’s fascinating that Thanksgiving is followed hard by Black Friday and the frenzy of Christmas shopping. Unbelievably, every year someone dies in the scrum of holiday bargain madness. Perhaps if we took more time to reflect on what we’re thankful for, we would spend less time on Christmas stress.
Thanksgiving became an official U.S. holiday in 1863, during the American Civil War. Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” Still sounds like a good idea.
As you reflect on the goodness of the Lord towards you, be encouraged by this verse from Colossians 3:15: Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
Picture credit goes to my friend Nicole – thank you!
In a museum in Florence, Italy, you can look upon and marvel at Michelangelo’s David, one of the great sculptures in the world. You can walk all around the statue and inspect it from every angle. But a different view, a fuller view, emerges from the entry hall.
The passage to The David is filled with unfinished statues by Michelangelo. Half-formed people emerge from gigantic blocks of marble, unable to fully escape their captivity. Michelangelo carved images from the front backwards, freeing the creatures he pictured in his mind from the blocks of stone. As you walk slowly toward the David, you get the sense of living beings emerging all around you.
Which brings to mind the Lord’s work in our lives. We are not yet finished, like The David, but we exist similar to those statues enduring in a roughhewn state. Thankfully, the Lord does not leave us incomplete, but continues to chip away at those areas in our lives we no longer need. The Master works steadily, creating the final masterpiece he envisions you and me to be.
As you feel the hammer and the chisel at work in your life, always in uncomfortable ways, remember this: He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).
My favorite piece of artwork I encountered on our recent trip to Italy was a statue by Michelangelo. I found it intriguing as I gazed at it for the first time, one of many fabulous works in this museum. However, as our guide told us the backstory of the sculpture, I leaned in and held my breath.
Michelangelo craved this piece at the end of his life. It’s a Pieta, a depiction of Jesus being taken from the cross, and this was not the only one he created. The most famous resides in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City (we saw that one also). But this one struck me personally.
The face of Nicodemus, a self-portrait of Michelangelo
Michelangelo, an earnest disciple of Christ, chose to portray Nicodemus taking Jesus down from the cross, along with Mary, Jesus’ mother, and Mary Magdalene. In this work, Michelangelo carved his own face as the face of Nicodemus, a self-portrait, if you will. Adoration for Christ did not always motive Michelangelo. But at the end of his life, he carved for posterity this image of true devotion.
Nicodemus served as a model for Michelangelo. Nicodemus first approached Jesus by night, but he refused to commit to Jesus. Scared and intimidated by the scoffers and doubters, Nicodemus took years to fully embrace Christ, finally doing so in that moment of taking the body of Jesus from the cross. In his own slow, halting journey of faith, Michelangelo found a kindred spirit in Nicodemus.
The thought struck me powerfully. I wrote about Nicodemus in my book, Seers, Sayers, Schemers & Saints. I’ve been fascinated for years with the searching and wrestling we see in the life of Nicodemus. He may be my favorite character in the New Testament, and he is certainly the one I relate to the most. To hear that Michelangelo felt the same stirred my heart. The artist’s religious fervor expanded as he aged. Michelangelo’s love of Christ informed his art and drove him during his last phase of life.
Great art can move one to tears. Such an occurrence rarely happens to me. But as I stood in front the this masterpiece, slowly understanding that the master artist carved his face into the marble to show his devotion to The Master, the tears welled. I cannot wait to meet Michelangelo in heaven, along with Nicodemus, and relive the lives of wrestling and eventual capitulation to full faith in Jesus that we and many others have shared.
When Zac, Pat and Tammy McCloud’s son, collapsed on a high school football field, life took a sharp turn into uncharted territory. This book chronicles their journey and lessons learned, especially involving “ambiguous loss,” about living life with Zac who will never be the same young man he was before the injury.
I have known Pat and Tammy for years, having worked on the staff with Cru together. They are great leaders, people of depth who mentor college students and help young people find their life in God. They are the type of people I would love to have influence my kids.
In their book you get a glimpse of how they wrestled with the Lord through this horrible situation, how they loved Zac and their other children during this time, and how they dealt with marriage struggles. In short, you walk through life with them as they share with you the lessons God is teaching them.
You’ll find this book valuable if you’ve ever dealt with loss, and especially if you’re dealing with the long, lingering changes in life that don’t seem to have any sort of resolution. Pat and Tammy put words to what you may be feeling, and if you read their book I think you’ll get a picture of why I appreciate them, and look up to them so much.
Join me in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2026. If you spend 30 minutes a day on social media, you can read through the Bible in a year. Download the 5 Day Bible Reading Plan, grab your Bible and join in. You’ll be glad you spent this year with the men and women of Scripture.
Seers, Sayers, Schemers & Saints
Stories to encourage you with the leadership experiences of overlooked men and women of the Bible. Their lives will inform your story, and move you to step out and lead.
GO: Following Jesus to the Ends of the Earth
This book contains reflections on the Lordship of Christ, the Great Commission, and a life of adventure and eternal significance. Read this book and you won't be able to sit still!
