Thanksgiving Gratitude

I can’t help but marvel at the briskness in the air. It’s fall again. I’m baking pumpkin bread, pumpkin pies, acorn squash, butternut squash, collards, cabbage, and molasses bread. Spices perfume the air. Roasted pumpkin seeds garnish the butternut squash soup. It’s my favorite time of year.

Did I mention fall festivals? Beautiful, created pieces of artwork that tantalize the mind. Mums in orange, purple, rust, and yellow. Apple Cider. Fire pits up and running. Football games and tailgating. Fundraising dinners with pulled pork, slaw, steamed potatoes, and simmered apples. Church bazaars: soup for lunch and a feast of homemade goodies and crafts. Everyone has the opportunity to be blessed and be a blessing.

The biggest blessing I get every fall is to watch my grandmother’s Christmas cactus bloom. 

They always bloom right before Thanksgiving and again in late January – a double blessing. Just like all the other beauty this time of year, I get this extra special blessing to remember my grandmother who died in October 2007. It feels like her plants bloom every year to honor her and remind me how much I loved her.

Blessings flow this time of year. I wonder if it’s because we can look back over the year and sense God’s presence working in our lives and others. Maybe it’s more than the reflection of what’s occurred and more about what’s coming – Christmas, celebrating God’s greatest gift to the world, Jesus Christ.

As I write this, my mind is swirling in gratitude. I am so thankful for so many things. Faith. Prayers. Family. Friends. America. Freedom. Church. Health. And more than anything, seeing Christ healing, working miracles, and answering prayers; I’m so thankful. But I’m also thankful when God has us wait on answers.

Waiting gives me the opportunity to sit back and breathe, knowing God is working within His will and timing on my issues. And during the wait, I’m baking. Maybe today I will try a new dessert. That always makes me happy.

Happy Thanksgiving! May God bless you abundantly like He always does!

Swinging To Heaven

I love to swing. As a child, I was passionate about swinging. When you’re swinging, you’re concentrating on the pushing and pulling action to accelerate your momentum, pushing forward and pulling back with equal intensity. As you get into a rhythm, you hold the chain tighter, lean back, close your eyes, and feel the wind ride across your body. Pushing forward, stretching your legs as far as possible, you lean up to lighten the load, scanning the horizon or stretching out further to touch a tree limb that’s just within toe distance.

A few years before my mother died, we were visiting my daughter, Tia, and her girls in Maryland. It was a beautiful day, and the girls were clamoring to go to the park. Mother stood up with the girls, ready to go. When we got to the park, mom went straight to the swing. I watched as she sat down, pushed off and began her ascent. The higher she went, the more she smiled. I’ll never forget her saying, “My Daddy taught me to swing. He said you can touch heaven if you try real hard.”

I’ve thought about this picture many times when trials come or life gets burdensome.

Swing to heaven.

So I tried it. I went outside, sat in the swing, and began pushing and pulling, soaring as high as possible. It wasn’t long before I forgot the long day, the urgent prayer requests, and calls about health crisis. My goal was to tip my toe into heaven. To knock off some fluffy edge on a cloud or peel back the white to expose more blue. I felt joy. I knew I was smiling. So many things were lifted; I felt renewed and restored as the swing eased to a stop.

Since then I’ve taken pictures of my granddaughters swinging. I’ve sat at playgrounds and observed the intense joy children and adults have in the simple act of swinging. There is an abandonment and freedom.

Our lives are so cluttered with distracting elements, intense moments. Maybe swinging needs to be added to our life distractions to lighten our load. What would it hurt to go out and sit in a swing and forget everything but the moment? Swinging and renewing, putting all our trust into God and smiling because life is a beautiful gift.

I know it sounds simple, but sometimes simple is the answer. Life doesn’t have to be so complicated and filled to overflowing. We need to get back to playing. Watch children. Playing. Imagining. Creating. It’s a God thing.

I bet when I get to heaven, Jesus and I are going to be talking more about swinging, painting, and flower picking than death, cancer, anger, unforgiveness, and hurt.

Maybe, just maybe, we need to share some of the joyful activities with those whose lives seem tangled in a briar. Maybe we should invite them to a park to swing or to sit on the porch to rock.

Thankful for the simple pleasures in life that show us joy!

Top Pinned Post on Pinterest

Okay, I’m addicted to Pinterest. It’s out, and I’m guilty.

I love posting spiritual and biblical quotes hoping to inspire someone or tantalize them to stop and consider living a Godly life. It’s my mini ministry that I do for about an hour a day, if I can manage it.

Over the last 6 months, I have been amazed and startled that the #1 pin on my account comes from Exodus 14:13-14. That particular pin has been posted and re-posted daily. Some days I see it come through many times over. I’m astounded that it could have such an impact. So I decided to delve into it and see why people are so drawn to these verses.

I queried several of the pinners who had re-posted it and basically got back the same comment written a little differently, but with the same meaning. All talked about the verses giving them the strength and courage to let go and let God do.

This comment was a little different, but one that resonated with me.

            “Most of my life, I’ve been rushing ahead of God and paying the price. Going forward I’m going to wait on God’s will and timing. I’ve given my life over to the Lord. I’m waiting for the victory in Jesus’ name.”

All this talk over a couple of verses had me looking it up and verifying why it’s so poignant. Let me tell you, these two verses are powerful and just as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago.

Let me recap the scenario so you will know what I mean.

            Moses leads the people of Israel out of Egypt and camps them near the Red Sea per God’s instruction. God then tells Moses that He’s going to harden Pharaoh’s heart, knowing the outcome will be retaliation on the Israelite people, but in the end total annihilation for the Egyptians.

            God says for them to put away their fear, stand in faith and let the Lord fight the battle.

            As Pharaoh draws near to the Israelite encampment, they swell with fear. They realize Death is riding in two directions. Turning in one direction they stared at the Red Sea, and in the other direction Pharaoh’s army thundering closer and closer.

            Then the people begin to cry out to the Lord, blaming Moses for leading them into a death trap. At this point, they cry out that they would rather be servants to the Egyptians than die in the wilderness.

            That’s when Moses delivered, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. . . The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

These are hard words. I have deliberately prayed over these verses. Could I have stood firm and still, watching as Pharaoh’s army advanced?

I pray I would remember the Lord’s past miracles and deliverance over many circumstances in my life. I pray I would hear the power in these words and the promise.

Do not fear. Stand firm. The Lord will fight for you.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve got an issue in my life that I have wrestled with. I’ve tried to handle it, but I haven’t been delivered from it.

Maybe the “I” in my previous sentence just answered my dilemma.

Do I truly trust God to do what He says He will do? Jesus said to place our burden on Him.

My heart cries “yes”.

I’m going to stand firm and know my God is a mighty God and can do what I cannot do. I will wait on His will and timing. I realize that on my own, I have accomplished nothing to solve the issue.

I’m giving it over to God.

Do you have something you need to be delivered from? Let the Lord fight for you and be still.

God bless you.