Fri., May 25, 2018

Colossians 3:15 – Let the peace of heart that comes from Christ be always present in your hearts and lives, for this is your responsibility and privilege as members of his body. And always be thankful.

Today, I looked at the calendar and realized it is almost the end of May. It will soon be six months since I stepped back from serving two churches. I did this to focus on writing and other things I feel God calling me towards. Six months. I had so many great hopes for this last six months. While some things have happened, some have not.

An earlier version of this post included some things I have accomplished in the last six months as well as things I haven’t done. In the end, I deleted it all. I’m not sure you all needed to read what I wrote. Maybe, I just needed to type it.

So, let me just try to summarize a bit of what I am feeling today:

• Life happens. As much as we can plan, make lists and will ourselves to do things that seem important to us, it may or may not happen.
• Each day is a gift from God. I pray that I never forget this. I pray I treasure each day, whether I cross anything off my to-do list or not.
• I will spend my entire life trying to perfect myself. It will never happen. God is OK with this. I pray I can be as well.

When I got home from work last night, there was an envelope in the mail. Upon opening it, I found this sweet, sweet card from a little person in my life. The card says this:

“I can always look up to you … thank you for being someone we can look up to!”

There are days in which I struggle with marking my little mark in this world. If blood is pulsing through your body, you will struggle with this at some point. Whether I really am someone who this little person looks up to, it sure feels good to hear it. Amen?

In my office, this old window hangs on the wall. On it, I have attached important things in my life. There are a bunch of other important things not represented on this window. Recently, I find myself using this window as a gratitude board.

I put this card on the window. Why? It represents a family that is important to me. It’s a great reminder that while my to-do list may not have gotten much shorter this week, life is about more than this list. It’s about many intangible things.

My reality today is being comfortable with my relationship with God, those important to me and letting God help me with the rest.

I embarked on these observances of gratitude in my daily life for a simple reason. Gratitude keeps us focused on the present. I pray that as I share a little gratitude lesson from my life, you maybe inspired to discover daily gratitude. In doing so, may it keep you focused on the gift of today. The gift of the present.

Thank you, God, for today. The present. It is a gift.

For this, I am grateful.

Lord God – some days we find ourselves questioning so many things. Certainly, this can be a helpful exercise. I pray we find islands of gratitude in our daily lives to keep us connected to today, the present. Thank you for being a part of our lives today. Amen.

Blessings –

Dianne

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