All We Need If All Was Lost

   

 This morning, on my “sleep in a little” day off, my dog, Max, saw fit to awaken me quite early. With a long “To Do” list already planned for the day, this will most likely work to my advantage. The mornings of late have been cool, with the promise of fall in the air before the heat of the remaining summer days sets in.  Max and I slipped outside on the patio to soak in the beauty of early morning, eat some breakfast, and drink in time alone with God. It was during this time that I was overcome with thankfulness to my Heavenly Father. My family and I are so very blessed. As I sat there, a soft breeze blew, filled with the freshness of a new day. I was not surrounded by smoke from gunfire and explosives as are many in foreign countries.  The birds were singing joyously, gliding on the soft currents of wind. There was no gunfire, no explosions to drown them out.  I had gone to my kitchen and chosen my breakfast from a variety of food available.Today, I will not go hungry as will many.  My home had sheltered me through the night, and I would live in its comfort today, not in a tent fleeing a war torn country, or on the streets. I am so blessed and this morning that reality stopped me in my tracks.

     People, we spend our time running, cramming our days full of busyness that bears no glory for God and gives our minds little time to be reminded of our blessings, to find His peace.  And the sadness of this comes in the reality that we choose to do this to ourselves. With the start of a new school year, I hear parents bemoaning the impossible schedules of children as after school hours are spent running children multiple directions for after school activities. They hardly have time to breathe, much less spend time to set aside praising with God.  A bumblebee working overtime on some potted flowers on my patio was a perfect image of this.  The bee barely paused as he dove furiously into one flower and then the next collecting pollen, living up to the “busy as a bee” cliche’. 
     I challenge you to set aside some precious time today to enter a season of thanksgiving for what we so easily take for granted each day, starting with your first breath this morning and praising from that point on. Pray for our country. Be thankful for the freedom and opportunity it provides. But don’t stop there. Pray for those in other countries that are war torn, hungry, disease stricken. Their story could be ours.  Pray for God’s direction in sorting out life’s priorities.  If the life we are choosing to live leaves us too busy and exhausted for time with Him, folks, we are too busy.  Stop and smell the roses, take a deep breath, and start praising.  
     This verse was in my devotional reading this morning and sparked this train of thought.  …sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich: having nothing, and yet possessing everything. (2 Corinthians 6:10) If everything we have was stripped away, in Christ we possess everything. All the more reason to be thankful for through Christ we have all we need even if all was lost!  To God Be the Glory!        
     

     

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