Open your mouth, open your eyes!

In case you're in need of a little joy burst today--

"Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see--

how good God is. 

Blessed are you who run to Him." Ps.34:8 The Message)

       "O Lord, all my ancestors were justified in their trust in You. Rid my heart of all pointless anxieties and paralyzing fears. Give me a cheerful and buoyant spirit, and peace in doing your will; for Christ's sake. Amen" (Prayer for this morning from John Baille's A Diary of Private Prayer.)
        Anybody else need a wee bit of reminding that our God is all-good, all-wise, all-gracious, all-kind, all-loving, and sovereign and in control of all, all, all things?  Well, hello, HE IS! 
        We're so prone to myopically squint and see only the messed up, divisive, uncertain, generally terrible things around us. And yes, there's a gracious plenty of that to go around. But, goodness gracious, this little picture of my precious granddaughter totally enjoying and delighting in her lunch (yes, she comes by her love of food naturally!  Our whole family loves, loves, loves to eat!) reminded me to open my eyes and look around at all of God's relentless goodness. It's everywhere, because He's everywhere. 
         The blue heron sitting regally in the middle of Crabtree Creek. The scent of gardenias. The laugher of a dear friend. The relaxation of a hot bath. The joy of reading that great book. The softness of silk. The happy songs of early morning birds. The sweetness of a homegrown tomato or ripe blueberries or warm bread or chocolate anything. The sound of a favorite song. The strong beauty of a majestic tree.The gift of home. The grin of a baby.
        Open up your eyes and look around. Linger and savor. Slow down and notice. Taste and see. Oh please, please taste and see...
        And then worship the Author, the Creator, the Chef, the Sustainer of every single good--every oh so, so good--gift in your life.
        Yes, there's still Covid and rancor and injustice and on and on...but over and above it all,  there is Jesus. Emmanuel--God with us. And because He is with  us, in us, for us we will ultimately be okay.  Or really, infinitely more than okay, because ahead is glory beyond anything we can begin to imagine. And all the sweetest, best gifts of this world are only the tiniest foretaste of the eternal and joyous glory ahead.
         So let's choose to live this day with hope and joy.  Let's ask our Father to "rid our hearts of all pointless anxieties and paralyzing fears." (After all, does your anxiety help? Seriously, when has worrying and wringing our hands ever really benefitted us or anybody else?)  Instead, by His grace and for His glory, let's ask Him to "give us a cheerful and buoyant spirit and peace in doing your will, for Christ's sake."
         Today, let's open wide our mouths and taste, open wide our eyes and see, how good God is...and then share His goodness with someone else. Surely there's a person around you who needs to hear, who needs to be reminded of our good, good Father. "Blessed are you who run to Him." We're coming, Abba, we're coming!
          To God be the glory.