I'm betting you are all a million times more organized than our family (though that bar is set pretty low), but I can tell you that sunday mornings can be a bit hairy at the Fountain abode. "Where did those clean socks go," and, "O no, you cannot wear those dirty khakis--although the wrinkles are just fine--gives them character." "Hurry hurry hurry, we're gonna be late again." By the time we jump into the car, breathless and sometimes a tiny bit frustrated, it takes me all the way to church to calm down... and to stop fussing: "We are never going to do this again. From now on, you need to set out all your clothes and your Bibles the night before! And we will leave by 8:55 at the latest!" HA! I'm betting all of heaven is shaking with laughter over that one... I, unfortunately, am not.
But every time we finally get there, well, it's a celebration to worship the God you love with the people you love. And now, I will never (okay, maybe sometimes) complain about the mad rush to get there. I will just keep my eyes on the prize of where we are headed and what we will be doing. And I sure as shooting won't take the gift of corporate worship for granted ever again. Forgive us Father! We live our lives so heedless of the manifold blessings we enjoy daily, hourly. Not anymore.
Speaking of, here's another one--driving a car to get somewhere and arriving safely. Or arriving without a headache. Bless her heart, when we drive Janie, she tends to get pounding headaches. So Lord, thank You that so often we can drive places and not feel terrible.
Another gift: going to school. I need to remind my boys of this one! Just being able to get up and get going to wherever you need to go--whether school or work. What a blessing to feel good enough and strong enough to do the work God has called you to do. Janie is now taking a class a day at school--praise God--and she's hoping to take two classes a day this week, if she can. We are really learning to take it slooooow, and trust in God's timing. But she commented that she couldn't believe how excited she was to go to school. She didn't even complain about Broughton's early start time (7:25 a.m.). Neither did any of us. What a privilege to be able to go and learn and see friends--who cares what time school starts!
If you ever want to have an instant gratitude enhancer, make a list of the important people and activities in your life. And then mentally assume every single one of them has been taken away. Gone. Forever. Imagine what it would be like to never have a loved one in your life or to be able to hear music or to laugh or to chat with friends or to take a walk... or to go to work or even fold laundry or run carpools.
Now add those blessings back, but just one by one. Now, imagine God returns to you that precious person you thought was out of your life forever. What joy, what an unimaginable act of grace! Or to suddenly find you could again care for your family--all those chores you thought so distasteful, well, now you discover that you have the strength and ability to clean up your messy teenager's room--the teen you thought was gone for good. Each task becomes suffused with joy. Each moment becomes a sacred time of celebrating God's extravagant goodness in your life.
He gives us gift after gift after gift, but as I've said so many times before, we miss them or ignore them or discount them, because they are so common and everyday and because they are so numerous. We should be walking around in a fog of joy, overcome by the blessings assaulting us at every turn. Another friend. Another meal. Another new morning and fresh start. Another time to walk your sweet dog. Another glowing sunset. Another piece of chocolate cake. Another moment to open the Word and be fed. Another hug. Another opportunity to love and serve someone.
We tend to become so preoccupied with what we don't have or what we have lost, that we completely miss the enormous, monumental joy of all we do have, of all that we have not lost. Sure, we have all suffered losses. Some of them terribly hard and heavy. We have all suffered. But think of all that God has done and taught through that suffering. Think of all that remains.
If you have trouble even seeing that (and we all do--boy, I can lose perspectively so quickly), just walk outside and look at the world God created just for you. Did you demand He give you trees and sunshine and breezes and birds just outside your door? Did you deserve to have the the gift of precious family and friends placed in your life by a sovereign Lord? What did I do to merit the joy of my children and husband and siblings and parents and friends? And even more, how on earth do they put up with me?! But somehow or other, they do--another gift!
So thank You Lord for Your relentless love and Your incorrigible desire to give gifts to Your children. Thank You for spoiling us. Forgive us for failing to truly see and appreciate and thank You-- our extravagant Daddy--for all You have given us and done for us. And thank You most of all for the gift of the Lord Jesus who not only saved us from our sins, but who also showed us the heart of our heavenly Father. Save us from ingratitude, Lord. Save us from indifference. Enlarge our hearts... and thank You that You are making them more like Yours. To love. To thank. To rejoice.
To God-- the relentless, incorrigible Gift-Giver--be all the glory.
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