The other day, I was jotting down some notes in a notebook, when I turned the page and saw a little drawing from my daughter– a happy face with an “I love you” next to it. It was a cute surprise—an unexpected “gift”–and it made me smile.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above…” James 1:17
That little happy face in my notebook, that little “I love you”, made me pause and be grateful for all the gifts in my life.
What are some surprises He has given you lately?
I’ve been thinking a lot about children lately. Not only because I recenly got an Operation Christmas Child catalog in the mail, with pictures and stories about children around the world who received Christmas boxes, but also because my church is in the process of building a children’s building. One of the primary focuses of the building effort is remembering that the things we do today can have a big impact on others tomorrow.
Especially kids.
You might’ve heard the popular saying….
One hundred years from now
It will not matter what kind of car I drove,
What kind of house I lived in,
How much money I had in my bank account,
Nor what my clothes looked like.
If you’re a parent, you know how frustrating it can be when your kids don’t listen to you. Asking for something to get done two, three and even four times can be aggravating and discouraging. And even if you’re not a parent, it can be just as discouraging when a spouse or a friend doesn’t listen to what you’re saying.
It doesn’t feel good to be ignored.
But how often do we do that very thing to God?
How often do we ignore Him and what He asks us to do?
The other day I was reading Hebrews, chapter 3 and I came across this verse:
“Today listen to what he says.
The other day I was standing in line at the grocery store when the person in front of me had an item that needed a price check.
This would’ve been fine, except for the fact that I had to go pick my kids up from school and I was worried about the time.
One minute passed.
Then two.
It seems like seconds ticked into forever as I stood in line, waiting.
After what seemed like an eternity, someone from the produce department located the price for the item and the person in front of me finished paying. I barely made it to my kids school on time.
What do you look to for satisfaction?
What do you spend your time thinking about, wanting, or striving after?
Is it money?
Relationships?
Food?
Shopping?
Or is it something else?
Wouldn’t it be great if we could all live our lives fully satisfied? Never wanting? Never feeling like we don’t have enough? Never feeling like we don’t do enough? Never feeling like we aren’t enough?
The song “These Hands” by Tenth Avenue North, asks the question:
Why are you still searching as if I’m not enough?
And isn’t that what we so often do? Look for our satisfaction in a variety of things other than God?
I love the verse in Psalm 94 and the promise that it gives:
“When I thought, my foot is slipping,
Your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.
When the cares of my heart are many,
Your consolations cheer my soul.” Psalm 94, 18-19
Webster defines cheer as: full of good spirits, merry, ungrudging, and likely to dispel gloom or worry. Is that how you’d describe yourself right now – cheerful?
Or are you in the middle of that place of gloom and worry?
If you are, take a minute to remember that God can cheer your soul.
That doesn’t mean He instantly makes you all smiles and happiness if you turn to Him.
If you were to ask my kids if they think I’m brave, I’m pretty sure they’d say yes. After all, they’ve seen me singlehandedly chase a wasp out of the house, fearlessly check the closet for monsters at night, and rush to turn the stove off when the water’s boiling over. They’ve seen me get stitches after I cut my thumb slicing bread, and they’ve seen me get a shot with a smile on my face.
To my seven and nine year old, I’m probably one brave woman.
However.
There’s a lot that my kids don’t see. A lot that they don’t hear.
I read an article this week that made me think about plans…
The article was about a man who was in the process of remodeling his bathroom. He’d drawn up a plan for the remodel, but halfway through his project, he decided to stray from the plan and get creative so he could make use of some extra tile.
It was only after he was done doing the extra tile work that he realized, because he’d deviated from the plan, the measurements for his tub had gotten thrown-off. As a result, he was at a standstill and was unable to finish his project as he’d hoped.