Thankfully Aware

Occasionally other folks come along and snatch our blessings right out from under us. They grab our joy, peace, and hope and carry them far away. More often than not though, we are the real culprit who steals our own blessings. We hinder and deny ourselves much of the goodness that God wants to pour into our lives. We let circumstances dictate our contentment, we let our own bad attitude steal our joy, we let interruptions disrupt our peace, and we let obstacles squash our hope. The key words in all of these statements is, “we let.” You see, we have a choice on whether we remain filled with joy, peace, and hope, or not. It’s our own choice to lose sight of our blessings, or remain thankfully aware. God is continually pouring out blessings, but it’s our choice as to whether we let them be eclipsed by our difficulties, or continue to let His light shine in us. Let’s be alert and on the lookout, ready to thwart the times of doubt, by continually being thankfully aware.

Hebrews 12:28, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,” NIV

The Best Place

God is always on the move. He is at work in every situation, using it all for our ultimate benefit and His magnificent glory. Everything God does and anything He allows into our lives is for the greater purpose of bringing us closer to Him. It’s all used to help us realize that in His Presence is the best place to be.

Psalm 16:11, “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” NIV

Bright Spot

Even among the tangled brambles of life there are bright spots to be found. Though life can be hard and sometimes quite prickly, there are delightful glimpses of beauty blooming all around. If we stop all our striving and wrestling for a moment, and simply come to the Lord, He will gladly reveal those glimpses to us. As I’m writing these words it’s dawning on me, all the beautiful bright spots Jesus points out are actually pointing right back to Him—He, Himself is the true Bright Spot we long and search for in the course of our thorny, knotted-up lives.

Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." NKJV

Worship

Worship isn’t something that just happens within the walls of church. Worship occurs any place and any time we pause to acknowledge and praise the Lord. This can take place in the car, the shower, on our closet floor, on a walk around the neighborhood, or seated at the ocean’s shore. It happens when we lift our eyes above our circumstance and gaze upon His majesty and glory. It happens when our hearts find contentment in His Holy Presence. It happens when we surrender everything over to His loving care. It happens when we raise our hands and sing out loud in adoration, and don’t care who's looking, because our only concern and focus is so completely wrapped up in Him. Whenever and wherever we worship the Lord, the very Spirit of God comes alive in us.

John 4:23-24, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

New Year Prayer

My prayer for this new year is not a one and done; it is a prayer I will continue to pray as I greet each and every brand-new day. I pray that my heart would be set on the same desires as the Lord; that my mind would be filled with the same thoughts and focus of Christ; that my eyes would see others with the same compassion and love as Jesus; that my hands would reach out beyond myself, embracing those who come my way; that my feet would follow the footsteps of Christ and the path He’s laid out specially for me. I will continually pray that the Lord blesses my life, one precious day at a time.

Psalm 96:2, “Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.”