Thank You Lord for this time early in the predawn darkness to meet with You. Thank You for the stillness of our house. Thank You for the quietness outside...one of the blessings of cold and ice--not much going on outside in the world around us! Thank You for family and friends. Thank You for health and home. Thank You for food to eat and a warm fire to savor.
Lord, Your Word says "For to the snow He says, 'Fall on the earth,' likewise to the downpour, His mighty downpour."(Job 37:6) What a Creator! What a creation! So thank You for the wondrous way water can remarkably transform from clear rain to white snow. Whiteness that transforms the landscape...and slows us all down.
Now, I confess my attitude about this snow/sleet has not been constantly thankful. In fact, I was one of the curmudgeons who hoped this winter storm would be "much ado about nothing." Sigh. But I'm reminded of a phrase I just reread from John Piper that we are to be "Pervasively thankful." And God's Word says it over and over again: "I will give thanks to You, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds." (Ps.9:1) "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." (I Chron.16:34) "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." (Col.3:17) And "give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."(I Thess.5:18)
So Lord thank You for the snow, for the sleet, for the gift of life slowing down a bit, for the cold (though I'm NOT a fan--but it sure does wake you up and make you appreciate the gift of a warm house and a hot fire), for all, all, all You have given us and for all, all, all You will give us in this new day. Thank You for the many big and the myriad "small"--as in all the cardinals at our bird feeder!--blessings You shower upon us each day.
Annie Dillard once wrote: "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing." In other words, this day, this hour matters. How we spend each one of them matters and we are responsible for living our life rather than simply allowing our life to live us.
We need to be responsible for establishing the daily habit of thankfulness in ALL things. Being "pervasively thankful" won't just happen. We must determine to relentlessly and pervasively make it happen by constantly looking to the Lord and choosing to give Him thanks in all circumstances, in all places, and in all times. And that begins by choosing daily to put my nose in His Book every morning, so that Almighty God can transform my mind and my thinking. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." (Rom.12:2)
Marching orders for today: Spend time in the Word. Soul happy in Jesus. Pervasively thankful. Share that love and thankfulness with others...till my head hits the pillow. All, all, all only by the grace of Jesus and for the glory of God. Yep, got it Lord.
To God be the glory.
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