The Grateful Month

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God."

Philippians 4:6

We are today, November 1st,  entering into the month of the year that typically conjures up thoughts of giving thanks. While I would put forth that this attitude of thanksgiving should be lived 12 months a year, I know that our secular society puts emphasis on it mostly during the month of November. So, I will take advantage of that to address what I think is a very important topic.

What Do You Grasp For?

"Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him, the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Philippians 2:4-11

What do you grasp for?

Shadows

Did you ever stop to think that the only time we see shadows is when the sun shines or

when there's a light on??

Wherever there is a shadow there has to first be light!

There is no shadow without light!

Rejection

It's very hard to un-hear words that have been spoken.

"I wanted a dainty little girl with red hair and I got a big horse."

"You are so clumsy."

"They never made a lady out of me and they'll never make a lady out of you either."

"Hey, get a load of my fat daughter."

"You are so big and tall, when are you going to stop growing?"

These are words I heard spoken to me by my mother while I was growing up. 

Then, in later years, after I was married with my own home, I heard these words:

"What the hell kind of curtains are those?"

"Your kitchen is blue. Who the hell puts blue in a kitchen?"

These were words that wounded so deep, it's taken me years to grow out of them.

Twelve Years Later

Twelve years! A lot can happen in twelve years; a lot has happened in twelve years! The older I get, the faster time seems to fly, but some days it doesn't feel that it could possibly be twelve years since Phil died.

Owning Need

Most of us know need in the way that we need food and water to survive, we need shelter to spare us from the elements, we need clothes to cover our naked bodies and we need money in order to purchase all those basic needs.

We know there is a difference between what we actually need and what we really want, right???

But, how many of us are willing to admit to our need for others and especially, our need for God?

Discovering Hope

Last year I had the privilege of attending a Writer's Retreat in Wisconsin on Lake Michigan. If I remember correctly, there were 13 of us there from all different walks of life, also representing several different states. We sat daily under the teaching of Leslie Leyland Fields, a well-known, well-published prolific author from Alaska.