{Our thankful lists… precious to me.}

“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.” ~Colossians 2:6-7

I’m not sure which I overheard first: the nine year old complaining about his lack of handheld electronic ownership, or the six year old expressing his discontentment with what we were having for breakfast.  Either way, this momma had had enough of the negative Saturday morning atmosphere, and so six members were called to the kitchen table for a family meeting.  That’s right… don’t mess with the mom and her high hopes for a peaceful, coffee-drinking, biscuits-and-gravy-eating kind of Saturday morning.

“Do everything…” 

… is all I have to say.  They hear it often.  Oh dear, more often than I care to admit.  And they know to finish the rest of the verse out loud while I give them the serious momma stare-down.

“… without complaining or arguing.” (Philippians 2:14)

As a family, we opened God’s Word that morning, and talked about the condition of our hearts.  Immediately we were reminded of all that we have to be thankful for because of Jesus.  And we agreed together that in order to FLEE grumbling, ungrateful attitudes, we had to instead PURSUE hearts of thankfulness (trust me, no one was going to dare to disagree with me at this point…).

So I whipped out six pens and six pieces of paper, and we all began writing down twenty-five things that we were thankful for that morning.  Items listed ranged from Jesus and salvation, all the way down to surgery, potties, and our beloved pet rat.  Ha. 

And we were on our way to re-setting the cycle (at least until we all needed to be reminded again) of thankfulness in our home.

I’m amazed at the level of negativity in our culture.  If you’re still unsure of this phenomenon,  you probably haven’t followed the news or facebook during an election year.  Heh.  People don’t hesitate to gripe about all sorts of things, and sadly, we who are followers of Christ can be just as guilty as those who don’t personally know the hope that Jesus brings.

What if you and I determined to re-set the cycle of thankfulness in our own little spheres of influence? 

There’s no need to wait for a holiday, for your candidate to get elected, or for a day-that-just-goes-your-way kind of day.  Colossians says that we can overflow with thankfulness, even in not-so-perfect circumstances, because our strength – our roots – go down deep in Christ.

And here’s the amazing thing: when we react to life differently than the world does, we have the opportunity to share the Reason for our hope.  And all eyes are pointed back to Jesus.  What an incredible, contagious cycle to be a part of.

Are you rooted, strengthened, and overflowing with thankfulness?

Let’s purpose to point people to Jesus by making our thankfulness count for Him.

At His feet,

Women around the world are IN THE WORD!

Every Wednesday we will have a link-up. If you are a blogger we invite you to link-up any blog posts that you have written about your quiet time that week. We ask that you put our button in the post or on your sidebar so we can find each other. We do not have code for this link up button. Just right click and save as. Then link it to http://www.goodmorninggirls.org

My closet cleaning came to a halt this week after I ran into some old college photo albums from nearly twenty years ago.  Nap time allowed some momentary privacy, and I became lost in the sea of memories that quickly flooded my mind.   Crazy how just a handful of pictures can turn back time in an instant.

Sure, there were the predictable pictures:  from my first dorm room, to crazy roommate adventures and photos capturing me in my graduation cap and gown.  But the experiences I couldn’t get past were on a much different level, and worth far more than any university degree could ever offer…

Alone in my living room, I was taken back to 1995, when I stepped foot into a hurting country called Haiti.  When life was much simpler and mercy seemed to come more quickly for me. My mind wasn’t cluttered with the things of this world as much. At least not that week of Spring Break, when I got to witness for the first time what life – and poverty – was like outside of my small college world. While I was working my tail off to avoid taking out student loans, people were starving to death right before my eyes.

“For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,

whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;

all things have been created through him and for him…”

No amount of government intervention or economic stimulus could heal the hearts of these people.  They needed Jesus.  A good friend named Tyler {who would later become my husband} was on that trip too. We sat on the steps outside our apartment building together each night, listening to the Voodoo chants of the neighboring village. We sat in pure darkness; no electricity since the generators had already shut down for the night. He would play guitar. We would sing a little, then pray a little. And wonder how a place – a people – that was so lost, could ever find God.

“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together…”

I walked away changed after that week.  It’s pretty easy to return from a mission trip (or church camp, or a great sermon, or on the heels of a day when things just go my way…) on an emotional high, feeling closer to God than ever, confident that He is in control of poverty and lost souls and all of life’s heartaches.   But all too soon, when the reality of daily life creeps in, we’re back to doubting the One who spoke the world into existence.  Back to insisting on controlling as much of our circumstances as is humanly possible.

As if we’ve forgotten who God is.

“And he is the head of the body, the church;

he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead,

so that in everything he might have the supremacy.”

But when I really seek to know and understand who God is through his Word – the Maker and Sustainer of the universe in control of ALL things, then I can serve, trust, submit, surrender, adore, fear, worship Him in a whole new way.  I remember that NOTHING escapes His power.  From creation, to governments, to wretched sinners like me.

And now, all these years later, I’m thankful that it’s God who does the finding.

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

and through him to reconcile to himself all things,

whether things on earth or things in heaven,

by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

{Colossians 1:16-19}

We just have to be willing.  Have you placed your trust in Jesus today?

At His feet,

Every Wednesday we will have a link-up. If you are a blogger we invite you to link-up any blog posts that you have written about your quiet time that week. We ask that you put our button in the post or on your sidebar so we can find each other. We do not have code for this link up button. Just right click and save as. Then link it to http://www.goodmorninggirls.org