A month of gratitude::day twenty-one...

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Psalm 107:1 ESV

Grateful this Monday before Thanksgiving in community with Ann for...

...my javaprayer sisters just one click away
...those who encourage
...the colors of fall on a summery Sunday afternoon
...God's life-breathing words
...His amazing love - how He loves you and me
...a fridge and pantry ready for Thanksgiving
...yellow mums in a mason jar

{photos} near dusk in my summery Sunday backyard

A month framed in gratitude::days eleven through fourteen...

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!Psalm 107:1 ESV

Counting God's good gifts with Ann in community... 

...for the gift of life, "happy birthdays", thirty candles, chocolate cake and ice cream 

...for a borrowed swing set {thank you, Casey and Jessi...we missed you so}

...for perfect weather

...for the extra hands that cooked, served and cleaned

...for veterans - men and women who sacrificed much for freedom in service to our country

...for safe travel

...for the love of family when I'm not so lovable

...for strength when I need it

...for the abundance I don't deserve

...for my brothers and sisters in Christ - the kindred hearts and spirits with whom I do life together

...for pastors who love like Jesus and hearts that desire to live like Jesus, too

...for friends I love dearly {you know who you are} who love in hard places

...for the gift of small things

{Photos} celebrating family, giving thanks-gratitude day eleven

A month of gratitude::day seven...

 





 

As I count God's good gifts with Ann in a grateful community this Monday, I'm thankful for... 

...eyes and ears to behold wonder, capture music's timbre and delight in my beloveds

...a gospel-saturated, Word-infused Sunday morning message

...the patience and kindness and generosity of God's people

...hearts knit together in the love of Christ {bind us together, Lord}

...delightfully cool weather and pink socks and sweaters

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:1-6 ESV

{Photos} crop dusters glide over sugar cane fields, and the sugar cane processing plant in Muck City  

How I celebrate this October day...

I was raised in a home where October 31st was a big deal.

My mother decorated our home for Halloween with as much joy as she did for Christmas, and for one reason only - it was my father's birthday. In all innocence, mother and their friends celebrated his birthday in grand Halloween style. 

If my father were alive today, he would be 92. The last birthday we celebrated with him was on October 31, 1999 - five weeks before he went to be with the Lord. It was probably his only birthday in my parents' 51 year marriage that did not include ghosts and goblins, black cats and spider webs, silly costumes and my mother. 

Mother was in the hospital with rapidly deteriorating health and my father was in a nursing home with dementia and severe emphysema. Even in his dementia, he knew that something was amiss, but it wasn't the ambiance of Halloween. What he missed was my mother - the woman he knew he loved, though he didn't always remember he was married to her.

In the short time my father was in the nursing home before his passing, he once asked mother for her phone number so he could call to ask her out. Another time he told one of the nurses that I was his daughter, but when the nurse asked if my mother, who was sitting in a wheelchair next to him, was his wife, he answered, "No. I'm not married." 

My father may have forgotten that mother was his wife, but he never forgot that he loved her. While mother was a patient in the rehab section of the same nursing facility, he wheeled over to her room to see her and fought with her roommate when she tried to keep him out by blocking the entrance to the room. {A nursing home must sometimes resemble a preschool.}

"She doesn't feel well today," we told him when he asked on his birthday as we gathered around him at a table in the nursing home's conference room. "This piece is for your mother," he announced - pointing to one half of his large birthday cake after cutting it in two.  

My mother and father were not perfect in their marriage or as parents. Neither are we - far from it. There's always the temptation to pass the blame for my own failures on to theirs, but I choose to honor the way they lived and loved the best they knew how - because grace filled the gaps, large and small, and love covers a multitude of sins. 

In his series on the Ten Commandments, our pastor taught that there's no age or time limit on honoring our fathers and mothers. It's a commandment for all ages, for all time.

As I count God's good gifts with Ann in a grateful community, I want to honor my earthly father on what would be his birthday. I remember and celebrate the gift of this October day, thankful for... 

...the grace of God displayed on the cross of Christ - grace that saved my father and a wretch like me
...the hope of heaven and a father who waits for me there
...a father who unquestionably loved my mother 
...the inspiration of my father's creative bent - though he rarely felt confident to reveal his giftedness
...my father's example of humility and compassion for the least of these
...a father who loved his church and friends
...a father who was gifted in math and cheerfully did our taxes each year
...a father who grew in his love for the Lord and God's Word, even as his dementia progressed

How are you celebrating this October day? I'd really love to know.

{Photos} my parents, my grandmothers, me and my baby brother, Easter 1953.   

Peace and contentment in the quiet...

For several hours this morning since my 4:00 am rising, between loads of laundry and considering the day's tasks, I've stared at the computer screen searching for words. But my mood and thoughts are contemplative and private and I've discerned are best kept to myself. 

As I count God's good gifts with Ann in a grateful community on this lovely, rainy fall morning, I'm thankful for more than I can possibly list. The Father through Christ - from whom all blessings flow - has lavished grace and mercy and love in great measure and I hardly know where to begin - but I will...

...sunlight that clouds cannot contain (a picture, yes, of His light in our clouds)
...an unexpected visit to those we dearly love 
...safety in the travel, towing an old trailer
...strength and endurance for my hurting husband
...soaking rains at the edge of a dry season
...playing wii with Mason and Austin
...every moment I can snatch with Gavin and Addisyn
...children who love the Lord
...the joy of more grandlittles being fearfully and wonderfully made
...a bench moved under the oak tree
...a healing wound
...a sweet surgeon
...pumpkins and apple scented candles
...the friends and readers who bless with kind words of encouragement (every word a treasure)
...contentment and the abundance of simplicity
...peace in the quiet and taming of the tongue

{Photos} sunlight breaking through clouds over sugarcane fields at dawn, two grandlittles that call me mimi, a Caloosahatchee River sunset 

For the beauty of the earth...

When Susan invited me to her family's ranch to catch morning light sparkle through flowering grasses, I prayed on that pre-dawn drive south down dark rural roads that God would open my eyes to His glory - where ever He chose to display it.  

As morning light diffused the dark, low clouds appeared blanketed across the eastern horizon, dulling the rising sun's sparkles we'd hope to capture. But I've learned - if I only look for sparkling grass, I'll wonder what glory I failed to see elsewhere.    

As I count God's generous gifts in community with Ann, I'm grateful for Christ and the abundant grace and mercy displayed on the cross, without which nothing else matters - and for the multitude of ways God displays His glory, His grace and his love in my life:

...Susan - for her gracious hospitality, for framing my photos on the wall of her lovely home, for driving me around their beautiful property in an ez-go in search of sparkles at sunrise, and for the fellowship and stories shared along the way

...a glorious sunrise over grazing cattle

...spider webs on barb wire fences 

...yellow-breasted meadowlark

...a trio of red-capped sandhill cranes

...fence posts dressed in virginia creepers

...cool breezes on warm afternoons

...a nap on my backyard swing

...quiet mornings on the back porch

...big-eyed tufted titmouse at the feeders

...blue jays, mockingbirds, and cardinals drinking and bathing at the birdbath

...Easter garden flowers blooming still 

...wild poinsettias

...the fruit of palm trees

...oranges ripening 

...white picket fences

...our rural community and the river than runs through it

...the love of family

...the love of friends

For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.
~ Pierpoint

{Photos} Sherrod Ranch

Just be thankful...

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
to which indeed you were called in one body.
And be thankful
~ Colossians 3:15

Thankful for God's many good gifts and counting them with Ann and a grateful community...

...the peace of Christ that rules my heart
...the one body to which I have been called
...the love of Christ that binds the hearts in our small group within the body
...unending mercy and grace {can I ever be thankful enough?}
...play dates with a grandlittle
...an afternoon with the dearest of friends and Betsy's creative and generous gift
...frozen homemade yogurt and banana/peach smoothies
...a faithful husband of {almost} 35 years who cooks Sunday morning breakfast and brings orchids with "I thought you could use a little cheer"
...a "season of gratitude" tree on the window {photos next week?}
...encouraging news for Marilyn, Sue and Emily
...cool mornings for open windows and fresh air and sunshine

{Photos} orchids brought to cheer, Betsy's alphabet book - created with my photography - and yes, we are Yankee fans

And could it not be the hand of the Lord that allows it?

It begins with a need - an empty place that we fill with "things of this world " - anything - anyone but the One for which the need was created. 

And like all idols - it demands a sacrifice. It takes from us something of greater value - time, peace, contentment....fellowship with the Father.

It's Pastor Eric's message this Sunday morning, and we examine our hearts for the "things of this world" to which we cling...and as we gather in our circle of kindred spirits bound together in the love of Christ, Sam reminds us, "All of it {those idols of our hearts} could all be gone tomorrow."

And could it not be the hand of the Lord that allows it? I wonder. A hard eucharisteo to peel my hands off the good when my heart becomes attached to the gifts - the good things for which I am grateful, but they are not the Giver?

And still He seeks the fellowship of His people and will send them both joy and sorrow to detach their hands from the things of this world and to attach those hands to Himself. ~ J.I. Packer

Overflowing with thankfulness, I count good gifts with Ann in community this day - holding the "things of this world" loosely that I might cling to the Giver - for He alone is worthy.

• The  Grace that saved a wretch like me
• The Body of Christ at my church, in my small group, in my community, in my home, in Australia, in Japan, In Venezuela, in Canada and Texas and Colorado and New York and Georgia and Michigan and Illinois and........
• Iced lattes on my backyard swing
• A husband who notices the little things and sacrifices much {for me}
• Glorious, breath-taking, burnt orange sunrises
• Yellowing, fallish leaves in ninety-degree weather
• Bacon and egg sandwiches and the love that made them
• Hugs and kisses
• A beautiful daughter who carries a heavy load {for me}
• Access to health care and the medicines I need
• Strength and grace for the moment
• The encouragement of friends

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,
continue to live your lives in him,
rooted and built up in him,
strengthened in the faith as you were taught,and overflowing with thankfulness.~ Colossian 2:6-7 NIV

{Photos} my backyard swing