Previous Reflections
REFLECTIONS
November 27th, 2016Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the LORD is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
Psalm 100:4-5The Course of Life
We looked around us on Thanksgiving Day. They were all there, most smiling at us across the table, others sharing their presence in mind and spirit. Each one a blessing in our lives, each one forming our family in the course of life. God designed it that way.
Sometimes we forget to thank God for our many blessings even on the day designated to do just that. We say our prayers all right, but often too narrow, sometimes with only shallow appreciation, and most times adding a request for new blessings we wish to receive. But look around. Look at all God has already done.
He brought life to the world; but He created it first. Joined by Light and Spirit, He formed the daytime for us to work and play; and then the night for us to rest and prepare for the tomorrows ahead. He made the sky and sea, the dry land on which we dwell, then the sun, the moon and stars of night. The seasons were of his making too arranging the course of life with variety and charm.
God decorated the world with grasses, flowers, and trees before enlivening it with fish to swim the waters, birds to soar in the sky, and living creatures of every kind to roam the dry land. And God saw that it was good. Still He planned for more. From the beginning, He always had.
The world, the galaxies and all that reaches beyond our view and imagination, and throughout all the ages past and those yet to come, God planned for you and me. He placed us right where we are today. In the course of life, He made us a part of the family of our birth whose spirit is forever part of who we are. Then in the course of life, children are wed, babies are born, and new families begun to extend the chain of being and love that define the image of God in us.
Blessings were everywhere on Thanksgiving Day. Among them is the family God blessed us to have in the course of our lives. All were there just as they will be each and every day to come. Still we know in the course of life, God plans many blessings He has yet to reveal. But need we ask for more? Just look at all He has already done.
So, if we didn’t pause long enough to see the fullness of God’s blessings then…
Perhaps we should pause to give thanks for them now.
You are the light of the world,
Richard +
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