Thankful Thursday

I’m thankful 

• for beautiful late summer days and frost-free nights. (At this point of the year, every frost-free night is a gift.)
• for visits from family—daughters, daughter-in-law, grandchildren and granddogs.
• for anticipation of a free day tomorrow and the hope that I can catch up on some tasks I need to do. 
• for anticipation of a return to regular scheduling as summer ends.
• for anticipation of a visit with Kim.
• for my church and God’s work in it. 
• that God keeps me weak so I must keep trusting him for help. 
• that God provides everything I need, and also teaches me that what he doesn’t provide, I don’t need.
• that God speaks to us through nature, showing us his wisdom, power, and love, but especially that he speaks to us in his word, where we learn what he has done for us in Jesus and what he has promised for us in the future.

Comments

[Charlie]

These "thankful Thursday" posts of yours are good, Rebecca, and especially because you mix in the ordinary blessings of your life, like frost-free nights and visits from family. I don't take as much time as I should to express appreciation to the Lord for his many gifts and graces, and this discipline of yours reminds me of that fact. Henri Nouwen said somewhere that gratitude is a response to grace. I believe it's God's desire that we live in gratitude, express gratitude, temper our thoughts and actions with gratitude.

I especially relate to "God keeps me weak so I must keep trusting him for help." I am weak and I do acknowledge my weakness, and my need for his help. I can't say that I've ever thanked him for my weakness, and yet, I can see how central it has been to the development of my faith, and the realization that his power is displayed in my life as I humble myself and acknowledge my need for him.

Thanks for these good reminders of how much I have to be thankful for.

[rebecca]

Thanks Charlie!