September 16th, 2007
Grateful for Gifts
“We ponder your steadfast love, O God.”
Psalms 48:9
Every night for the last three weeks I have taken time to reflect. Before anyone gets all excited about my “piousness”, let me explain that this is for a class I am taking! Each night I needed to think about the previous 24 hours and think of something I was grateful for or something for which I was not grateful. If you were to read my reflections, you would notice a definite pattern! The first two weeks were full of things, experiences, people for which I thanked God. Then last week hit!
The week started out as I traveled on Saturday to Rhode Island to teach a Walk Thru the Bible Old Testament Seminar. Don’t get me wrong, I love to teach, and I love this particular seminar. However, due to the energy I expend, I always leave pretty wiped out. Monday came and so did the need to write my first official research paper. Only six pages, but man, it’s been a long time since I wrote a paper! Yes, it took me all day! Awana kicked off on Wednesday, so Tuesday and quite a bit of Wednesday was spent getting last minute stuff ready. Thursday, of course, I traveled to Rochester for class, coming back at 1:45 am on Friday morning. Then Friday night I led the women’s prayer evening at the church. Honestly? My “reflection journal” showed each night a one-sentence summary, “I am not grateful for pressure, deadlines or expectations!” Where’s my piousness now!?!
Thursday night, however, we took time at class to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” And, you know what? He is. As I looked back at my week, I took time to see the gifts God had given me. Miriam went with me to Rhode Island. I will probably always remember traveling there with her, watching Andy Griffeth DVD’s on the computer (ok, I was driving, so I didn’t officially “watch”, but I got enough to laugh along with her), exploring a hotel room and enjoying eating out with just her.
Chriss volunteered to help set up for Awana. Although I felt bad for her trying to help me while having her two girls there, I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with a friend while accomplishing a task that I needed to do. She is a gift from God.
Melissa helped with the Women’s Prayer Evening. As I thought about her support and ideas, I realized how much I relied on her input and friendship for that evening to take place.
Tim, another gift from God, supports my schooling even though it means he now helps with the laundry, helps more with the children, and often gives up any “fun” evenings watching videos or playing games that we so enjoy together.
Yes, my hours continue to explode with activity. However, when I take time to ponder God’s love, I am amazed. I want to continue this discipline of noticing God’s gifts. Why don’t you now take time to think about your last 24 hours? What has been God’s gift to you? What are you grateful for? Only when we slow down long enough to ponder God’s love will we see the numerous little gifts he drops into our lives.
September 19th, 2007 at 9:03 am
I too, have been feeling the many pressures of many things to do, both on the job and at home and have been slipping or drifting away from God’s presence and His peace and joy. I just realized that I always used to keep a little “thank you” journal by my bed and have often counseled women to start this type of journal where they think of things they are thankful for every night. Guess what? My journal isn’t next to my bed and I suddenly realized that it hasn’t been since we got our new bedroom furniture back in July! Do you think there is a correlation between my focus on my frustrations and my lack of focus on God’s blessings? (I just found my journal and it’s now back on my new nightstand - thank you and have a blessed, wonderful day in the Lord!)