The Joy Response

Daily Gratitude- Year 14 - Day 66: Today, I am grateful for the joy response.

Joy is a response; joy is a choice.

Joy can be a surprise. There are unexpected moments in life when joy is instant or so deep it is hard to put into words. Holding your newborn baby is one of them. The miracle of it all is indescribable.  

There are other times, when joy arrives by invitation...by choice. When life gets hard, we can choose joy. When a situation feels hard and unrelentless, we can still choose joy. 

I spent some time praying on today's scripture. 

Lent Day 18 Scripture: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field." -Matthew 13:44 (NLT)

Once he found the treasure, it was his "one thing." He would do anything to obtain it. His other belongings became meaningless. He sold everything to obtain the one thing that was most precious. He held nothing back with no regrets. He understood the cost, but it was worth the price. He came face to face with the God who clearly commands, "You shall have no other gods before me." None... just One. 

The man did not miss the burden of the things he gave up for the one perfect prize. He had discovered one that was better than the rest. 

The parable attempts to explain the reciprocal and paradoxical truth that giving up everything unlocks abundant life in Christ. It is humbling to realize that our wandering, wayward souls are the very thing that the God of the universe deemed worthy of His greatest sacrifice. Enough so that He took on human skin for the rescue mission and the sin sacrifice. 

How can we not be joyful?

Today, I am grateful for the joy response.

Great Teachers

Daily Gratitude- Year 14 - Day 65: Today, I am grateful for great teachers. 

Our parents are our first teachers. My Mama Ina Mae loved that role and embraced it in every way. She led by example.  I am forever grateful for her gentle ways of showing me the path that led to Jesus. She walked every day in mercy, grace, and love until her last breath.  She was one of a kind. 

Psalm 25 is from David's heart. It made me think of Mama. It is for Lent -Day 17.

"Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." Psalm-25:4-5

When you hope is in something solid... something that will not fail... there is a unique peace. The world can be a crazy place, but our God does not fail. His forgiveness and grace are deep and wide. His desire for us to respond in love and not just obedience is like any loving parent. 

He is the best of teachers and gave us a best-selling book to read again and again when we need wisdom and guidance. He gave us His Spirit to walk with us... whatever the day brings. 

Today, I am grateful for great teachers. 

The Benefit of Obedience

Daily Gratitude- Year 14 - Day 64: Today, I am grateful for the benefits of obedience.

It is natural for parents to want the best for their children; children and parents might disagree on what is best. There is truth that wisdom comes with age, but it is hard to see when we have the energy and distractions of youth. 

Most parents want the best for their children. They fiercely defend them. They try to clear troubles from their path, and they offer to help carry the burdens. Now, sometimes parents overstep and their children miss out on small lessons that help them prepare to make better choices later in life, because no one except our Heavenly Father is perfect. We keep trying to love them well, even when they are grown. 

This is my Lent verse for today: 

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.-Ephesians 6:1-2 

For Jesus, obedience to the Father meant a cross. What a mission. What a price to pay so that we could become the children of God. What an example of obedience when the mission ahead was brutal. Jesus was "obedient, even unto death" so that we might be free. His obedience became our cancelled sin debt so that we might be truly free. 

Today, I am grateful for the benefits of obedience.

Transformations

 

Daily Gratitude- Year 14 - Day 63: Today, I am grateful for transformations.

There are so many patterns in nature. There is an order to many of the patterns and then, along the way, God throws in some crazy whimsy plants, sea creatures, and animals. His creativity includes creatures that start as worms and then become beautiful moths and butterflies. 

They go through life mostly silent. If they could speak, would they complain in the worm season? They certainly seem to know they are beautiful when they emerge with wings. Transformations are rarely easy, often uncomfortable, but they are worth it. 

This passage is a reminder to seek his face and not assimilation in a world we are only passing through. Enjoy the scenery. Delight in the wonder, but do not conform. There are better things ahead. 

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." -Romans 12:2

Today, I am grateful for transformations.

Plenty to Share

Daily Gratitude- Year 14 - Day 62: Today, I am grateful for the blessing of having plenty to share.  

Sharing comes almost naturally when you have plenty to share. There is definitely more joy in giving than receiving. A shared meal is a perfect example. Some people do not eat left-overs. We are NOT those people. I prefer the idea of "planned overs" that can quick start the next meal. Dropping off food to a widow, widower, or tired single parent is an easy way to show love at a manageable cost. Generosity does not have to be extravagant. 

My friend, Dana, shared the great idea of giving experiences as your kids get older. Last year, we took a glass blowing class together as a gift to Randy. It is such a fun memory for the six of us. (Thank you, Glass Girl.) It was so fun to share the experience with the kids. It was the gift that kept on giving... including the gift of time together. Time is our most limited and precious commodity in this season of life. 

I think about the time Jesus spent on earth. Did it seem like an eternity away from Heaven? He is about the age my sons are when he was in his ministry and then faced the cross. He had plenty to share but so little time before facing the cross. His spirit was typically calm, but there was an underlying urgency to teach all that he could before he returned to the Father. 

The Gospels are precious because they are packed full of the words Jesus spoke. They are truly a gift that was meant to be shared. 

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." -John 3:16

This Lent scripture is one of the first we memorize as children or when we come to know Jesus. It stresses the gift of the Messiah. God gave his only son. I cannot imagine God's pain. I would die for my children in a heartbeat without a second thought. We have a heavenly Father who did not write us off because of our sin, inability to obey, and shame. He sent his only son to fix it. That is the opposite of abundance. There was only one fix. 

The Gospel travels light. We have plenty to share. Any earthly blessings we can share are a bonus. 

Today, I am grateful for the blessing of having plenty to share.  

Worry We Don't Have to Carry

 

Daily Gratitude- Year 14 - Day 61: Today, I am grateful for the worry we do not have to carry. 

Today's Lent scripture reading is:

"Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you."-1 Peter 5:7

I am truly grateful that we can cast our worries not in the wind, but the Him. The One you who was there in the beginning, the One who embraced being human, the One who carried our sin to the cross to eliminate our debt, and the One who conquered death. He has offered to carry our worries and to be our advocate before the Father. 

We can give our anxiety to the One who numbers the stars, calms the seas, walks on water, and created the bees to make honey. It is a wonder... and wonderful. Why do we fight him for our troubles? We pray for Him to take them, but then we snatch them back. 

We can set our anxiety free and travel light. He is the Master of the Universe and the one who knows us by name. 

Today, I am grateful for the worry we do not have to carry. 

Keep Doing Good

Daily Gratitude- Year 14 - Day 60: Today, I am grateful for reminders to keep doing good. 

This is the scripture for Lent day 12:

"So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up." -Galatians 6:9

Everyone gets weary at times. I am grateful for the many reminders to do what is good, right, and with a moral compass that speaks louder than words. We mess up at times, but His grace is deep and wide when we seek His face. He is never surprised by our confessions. 

What good can we accomplish on this day? Can we make even a little difference? Can we pour a little hope and light into someone else's hard season? I love reminders. 

Today, I am grateful for reminders to keep doing good.