I woke up this morning with a very strange need to make french toast. Need. I have no idea what prompted it, I just knew I had to make french toast. No one else at my breakfast table will eat french toast, so I made it just for myself. At the first delicious bite, I was suddenly back in Gami's kitchen. Cinnamon, sugar, and as many slices as we wanted (and everyone loves it just as much as me).
Fast forward to lunch and I found myself enjoying a juicy peach. And just as quickly, I'm next to Gami as I watch her turn overflowing baskets of Aunt Nancy's peaches into amazing "frozen peaches". Oh how divine! I could eat these forever, just have to be careful of the brain freeze from eating too quickly!
And then very unexpectedly, for dinner I have just received so many amazing fresh vegetables from a friends garden and as I stand there snapping green beans and slicing homegrown tomatoes, I am overcome with Gami! It is incredible how one person can be wrapped up in so many delicious memories. I am so thankful for these memories! How she comes alive for me with each taste, every snap of a bean. What a gift that was today to travel back to her love, poured out onto a plate. Can't wait to savor the leftovers tomorrow!
And I laugh as I look down just now and realize that I have been wearing her pants all day long...
Our Party of Five...
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Echoes of Thanks
A while ago I read a wonderful book by Margaret Feinberg called "The Sacred Echo". The book is about hearing God's voice and it states "When God really wants to get your attention, he doesn't just whisper something once. He echoes." This book had a big impact on me and I find myself thinking about it often and truly trying to listen to the echoes God is whispering to me in my daily life. I know that he is always there, whispering, urging, reminding, waiting. And sadly, I also know that the majority of it is missed, lost in the shuffle of this loud world I live in. But occasionally in the midst of it all I catch a whisper here and there. Recently I find myself with a deep desire to go deeper, closer with my Lord but there's more to it. I don't want this closeness with God to be a place I have to go to. I want it to be right where I am. That it be a place I never leave. So I find myself asking how? How do I walk with God at all times, feel him close to me, guiding me and in constant communion and conversation with him, even as I do the everyday things of my life where this can be so hard? So I began to hear many, many echoes:
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever." Psalm 136:2
"Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:20
"I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds." Psalm 9:1
"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name." Psalm 100:4
"He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God". Psalm 50:23
I could go on and on and on and thankfully, that is just what the Lord has done with me. I slowly started to see that each and everyday in so many different circumstances God has been reminding me to give thanks. I've read these verses so many times that I'd become numb to them. Yea, yea, give thanks. I know. I do. I am. But I'm not and I haven't been. The current book that God is using to speak to me is Ann Voskamp's "One Thousand Gifts". Her beautiful writing has opened my eyes to see my "sin of ingratitude". I see now that in order to be in that constant closeness with God, to truly be in His presence, is to be in a state of thanksgiving. Because when I am thankful, specifically thankful for all He has given, all that He is, all that He does, I am praising Him and I am truly seeing Him. Maybe for the first time. In thanksgiving there is no room for fear. There is no room for disappointment. There is no room for regret. There is no room for anger. In thanksgiving there is only love, and goodness, and glory.
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever." Psalm 136:2
"Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:20
"I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds." Psalm 9:1
"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name." Psalm 100:4
"He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God". Psalm 50:23
I could go on and on and on and thankfully, that is just what the Lord has done with me. I slowly started to see that each and everyday in so many different circumstances God has been reminding me to give thanks. I've read these verses so many times that I'd become numb to them. Yea, yea, give thanks. I know. I do. I am. But I'm not and I haven't been. The current book that God is using to speak to me is Ann Voskamp's "One Thousand Gifts". Her beautiful writing has opened my eyes to see my "sin of ingratitude". I see now that in order to be in that constant closeness with God, to truly be in His presence, is to be in a state of thanksgiving. Because when I am thankful, specifically thankful for all He has given, all that He is, all that He does, I am praising Him and I am truly seeing Him. Maybe for the first time. In thanksgiving there is no room for fear. There is no room for disappointment. There is no room for regret. There is no room for anger. In thanksgiving there is only love, and goodness, and glory.
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