Discernment

Daily Gratitude Year 14-Day 272: Today, I am grateful for discernment.

When you are looking to build a team, it is good to be surrounded with people who have discernment. 

Discernment is wisdom that comes from God. His Spirit urges us in directions we may not take if it were not for His presence in our lives. 

Everything in discernment of spirits is directed toward action: toward firmly accepting what is of God and equally firmly rejecting what is not. -Timothy A. Gallagher

Knowing what is good and of God and knowing what is not is a powerful kind of knowledge. 

"The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit." -1 Corinthians 2:14

There are times that you know God is leading. Sometimes you are equally sure He is blocking the way. Sometimes He lets us have our way, because we will not let it go. Discernment leans into His Spirit, His will, and His way. They are the whispers and urges that we cannot explain. 

Today, I am grateful for discernment.

Seekers

Daily Gratitude Year 14-Day 271: Today, I am grateful for the seekers.

My mind quickly went to the Harry Potter series game of Quidditch. The seekers were the ones trying to capture the "snitch" that ends the game. It is played on flying brooms. Each team has seven players on flying brooms (yes, it is fantasy). Here are the teams: 

Chasers (3 players): Their main objective is to score goals by throwing the Quaffle through one of the opponent's three hoops, earning 10 points for each goal.

Beaters (2 players): They use bats to hit Bludgers away from their teammates and towards the opposing team, protecting their Chasers and Keeper.

Keeper (1 player): This player guards the goal hoops, attempting to block the opposing team's Chasers from scoring.

Seeker (1 player): The Seeker's primary role is to catch the Golden Snitch, which is worth 150 points and ends the game when caught.

The Harry Potter illustration may seem odd to some, but it was such a great reminder of the many ways we are all seekers. The enemy of our soul sends bludgers (flying iron balls) to knock us off course. Our human minds are easily distracted by other things. We are told to seek first the Kingdom of God. What are His priorities? Do we make them ours? Are we seekers?

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." -Matthew 6:33

"All the things" has become a common phrase. In Him, "all the things" is a true sense of peace, contentment, and knowing we are loved is enough. He is our "enough."

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." -Matthew 7:7-8

Today, I am grateful for the seekers.

His Enduring Word

 

Daily Gratitude Year 14-Day 270: Today, I am grateful for His enduring Word. 

Isaiah 40:8 states: "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever." This verse emphasizes the transient nature of life and the enduring nature of God's word.

There are so many echoes from the Old Testament into the New Testament. It is a constant reminder that the O.T. foreshadows the N.T. and the N.T. reveals the mysteries in the O.T. I love to note them in my Bible margins. Here is one for the Isaiah 40:8 passage:

1 Peter 1:24-25 echoes this sentiment, stating: "For all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever."

What are the things that endure? When we reach a certain age, we realize that 50 years goes by pretty fast. We have now put a second roof on our home, because we have been here 30 years. The first one did not seem to be that long ago. Time is the strangest thing, even to our human minds. For our eternal God, David notes that "a day is a thousand years and a thousand years is a day." No wonder our ideas, plans and time frames do not match up with his. 

Our God breath... our soul breath... brought dust to life. 

" then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." Genesis 2:7 

God breathed. I love that part! His Word endures and it is good. His breath gave us life. Jesus's last breath on the cross paid our sin debt. His first victory breath in resurrection ensures us victory, too. The grave is not the end. Where we spend eternity is an invitation, a decision, and a destination anchored in a free-will decision that leads to a real relationship, hope, and a future. From Genesis to Revelation, it is a continuing story of His love for us. 

Today, I am grateful for His enduring Word. 

Sunrise & Sunset

 

Daily Gratitude Year 14-Day 269: Today, I am grateful for te sunrise and sunset. 

From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised! -Psalm 113:3

Before electricity, sunrise and sunset were markers for the work day. Some things required a lantern before dawn or after sunset, but for the majority of labor happened between those two day markers.

Sunrise always feels like a fresh start. From sunset to sunrise, there is rest and restoration. The calm and quiet that follows the sunset helps us unwind, if we let it. 

Sunrise and sunset are the beautiful bookends on each day. 

Today, I am grateful for the sunrise and sunset. 

The Seasons in September

 

Daily Gratitude Year 14-Day 268: Today, I am grateful for the seasons in September.

We joke in the Midwest that "if you do not like the weather, wait ten minutes." That is extreme, but we really can have three seasons in a day or two. It tends to be when we see tornadoes and other severe weather. 

It happened a couple of times this past 12 months and it will happen again. From unseasonable highs to unseasonable lows, the earth prepares for the change one day at a time. 

"We know that in September, we will wander through the warm winds of summer's wreckage. We will welcome summer's ghost." -Henry Rollins

Everyone seems to be digging out the lightweight fall colors from the closet. Earthy tones with a kiss of bright colors coming from the same oranges, reds, and yellows that color the trees. I noticed an elm on the way home that was green on the bottom with flaming yellow leaves as a crown. It was stunning. My friends Don and Stephanie would call noticing the tree "joy spotting." It certainly brought me joy. 

There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth. King Solomon wrote these words in Ecclesiastes 3:2-8

A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace.

Seasons come and they go. Savor the good. Make time to spot the joy. Look for the colors around you. Be prepared for whatever the day brings. Lovely September is nearly spent. 

Today, I am grateful for the seasons in September.

Children's Books

Daily Gratitude Year 14-Day 267: Today, I am grateful for children's books. 

Children's literature has always been a favorite of mine. I knew as a young adult that "The Velveteen Rabbit" was special. It wrapped up love, hope, loss, loyalty, grief, and healing in a way that adult fiction could not without being depressing. 

"There are some themes, some subjects. too large for adult fiction; they can only be dealt with adequately in a children's book." Philip Pullman

Perhaps it is because children do not tiptoe around the hard stuff. They dive right in. They cry the tears. They feel the pain. They get mad and sad, but they press on until they get to a better ending. They celebrate the little things, too. 

Winnie the Pooh has not been in a gratitude post for a while, but it may be time to revisit some of my favorite quotes. That bear of "very little brain" had much wisdom about living life well with an eclectic group of characters surrounding him. 

Even in our Sunday School lessons, we pull out the scriptures with powerful stories of God's willingness to not give up on humans. Some of my favorites are of the ones who endured hard situations and trusted His heart. From a mother putting her baby in a basket to be found by an Egyptian princess in order to save his life to three young men who faced a fiery furnace before they would bow to an idol, the Bible passages made into children's stories deal with some hard stuff. Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers and David, the shepherd boy who would be king, taught us about God's presence in the good times, the hard times, and in the details of our daily lives.  

Jesus used stories when he wanted people to understand hard concepts. 

"Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable." -Matthew 13:34

As young parents, the book "I Love You, Forever" could barely be read without choking up and Chase asked for it over and over one trip to Michigan (before Walker was born). Even in our twenties, we had seen enough of the circle of life to be impacted by the story. 

Feel free to add your favorite children's books in the comments. 

Today, I am grateful for children's books. 

Your Best is Enough

Daily Gratitude Year 14-Day 266: Today, I am grateful for gentle reminders that your best is enough. 

"How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would chuck wood?" -old tongue twister

Some have never heard the tongue twister. It is essential to understanding the humor in this image. A woodchuck is a groundhog. It is the largest of the ground squirrels and is in the squirrel family. 

"You are holding tension here in your neck. Just let it go. Nobody really cares how much wood you would chuck, even if you did chuck wood..."

When I saw this I giggled. Sometimes we all need to be reminded to relax. Not every day needs to be a contest or a race to the finish line. Do what you can. Do your best. Then, let the rest wait for a new day. Find joy in the daily doing. Be content with the "enough." 

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” -Colossians 3:23

I love this reminder to do our best and for His glory... not our own accolades. He delights in His children, with all of our quirks and imperfections. We are planted in places with work to do. When we do it with all of our hearts we can know it pleases our Lord. 

Today, I am grateful for gentle reminders that your best is enough.