Gratitude as Savoring

Psalm 50:23  The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!

Giving thanks is not only an act of obedience for what God has done for us and given us. The Bible tells us to be thankful, yes, and when we obey this we're more at peace. But gratitude is even more than that. The act of pausing to name a blessing slows life down so that nothing is wasted. Life is a gift. Time is a gift. And savoring is acknowledging the sacredness of the present moment.

The endless tasks to be completed in a day can easily dominate us and shift our focus from the hallowed, to the harried. From the sacred, to the mundane.

But to pause and name a blessing? That's like departing the rush-hour train to frolic in the wildflower-strewn meadow, with Mt. Lassen rising up majestically before us. So much beauty it leaves you breathless.

Psalm 1118:24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Get off the train. Smell the flowers. Hear the insects and the babbling brook. Study the mountain and the lake it feeds and the flora and fauna it supports. We weren't created for the rush-hour train, but to look about us and say "blessed be your name."

Mt. Lassen might not be in your backyard (I spent my first anniversary there, camping), but something sacred is. There is always beauty, waiting to be discovered and named.

Blessed be your name, Lord. Thank you for all that you pour out, for all that you create, for all that you redeem. Blessed be your name.

Hebrews 12:28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe

~ for cucumbers and squash from the garden.

~ for rain for the farmers.

~ for 12-year-old Peter breading and frying squash for Daddy because that's the way Daddy loves it. "I'm going to bless Daddy today, Mommy."

~ for a pretty green yard with all the children's plants thriving

~ for homeschool curriculum 95% purchased and arrived

~ for stories that stretch the heart and mind

~ for the Lord graciously redeeming me seventeen years ago

~ for our Compassion children's letters and the thrill they give us

~ for a husband's loving arms

~ for four sweet hearts here at home, still too young to move out

~ for the joy of saying thank you

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

What are you pausing to say thank you for, my friends?