Whew. This poetry you simply must witness. It has hit me in the core of my soul tonight, as a single mother who struggles with the past, present and future; who often despairs of hope. I hope you will be rightfully moved as you listen to this Dramatic Poetry rendition of “Ready or Not”
Thankfulness
105 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
2 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
4 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually!
Thankfulness. Gratitude. Appreciation. Gratefulness. We set aside this day to experience the essence of these words. And yet as I sit here with my crew, I wonder if my gratefulness runs deep enough. Does it reach through the core of who I am? Am I a thankful person, able to see with my eyes the presence of my God and His tremendous love for me, beyond even his provision for my family?
I love how Psalm 105:1 (see above) couples “Give Thanks Unto the Lord” with “Call Upon His Name.” Because in the midst of giving thanks to the God who sees, the God who provides; even in the midst of all that He has done for me–He invites me to continue to call upon his name. To seek Him out. To be willing to say “Yes, God, please provide for my physical needs, but more than that, much more than that, please meet the needs of my soul”
God is father, He is Abba. He delights to meet the needs of His children. But even more so, He delights in our calling upon His name. When we realize that it is only in Him that we find life, then our gratitude grows deeper, like the roots of a tree. And the deeper the roots, the deeper our gratitude, the stronger we will be because we are “rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:17)–His love.
How do we show this gratitude? The rest of this passage answers that question. We make known his deeds. We worship. We glory in His name. We rejoice. And we seek the Lord, His strength (not ours). And we seek His presence continually.
I am grateful for each and everyone of you, my friends and family. My prayer for you this Thanksgiving today is the words of Psalm 105, that you would be deeply grateful today and call upon His name. That you would worship and rejoice and seek His presence.
Continually.
Sometimes I think This World Runs on Bubbas……..
…….you know the type. Typically looks as if he’s been working on cars or on a farm for days. Generally chews ‘bacca. Hardworking.
I was saved by a Bubba not once, but twice in the last few days.
First, my transmission died. Kapow. no gears at all, Fortunately it died right at an exit to a shopping center. Unfortunately, it stopped halfway up a hill. I try to push it myself….sssslllloooooooowwww going. Then not one, but TWO Bubba’s jumped out of their trucks and helped me get the blasted vehicle up the hill and into a parking space. Thanks Bubbas!
Then, tonight, as I was leaving my house to run an errand, I misjudged my driveway and the street (I never did have good peripheral vision) and splash, landed my tires in the ditch across the street–mud and water filled. I called all my kids to help me push but to no avail. I tried gunning the engine, which only made matters worse as the wheel spun deeper and deeper into the muck.
But the next thing I know, here comes a Bubba with an old beat up truck. He doesn’t say a word to me, just gets out his monstrous size chain, lays down in the road, attaches my vehicle to his Ford F150 (in Bubba condition) and with very little effort, pulls me out of that ditch. He hopped in his car and off he went. Have no idea where he came from.
The things I get myself in to.
So tonight I’m thankful for all the Bubba’s out there in the world.
Sunday Sundries
It’s been a strange day–a good day, but a strange one. I am enjoying my crew tonight and am grateful and thankful for friends and family. Here’s tonight’s Sunday Sundries:
1. I appreciate and admire amazing photography. Here’s 13 Images from National Geographic’s latest photography contest.
2. For those too chicken for real roller coasters, here’s the first “walking roller coaster” I’ve ever seen. Seems like a great idea unless it is designed to go upside down…..
3. I have dear friends who have having to deal with the flooding in Thailand, so I found this article about innovative ways they are dealing with the flooding fascinating.
4. I showed these clips to my kids–they were fascinated particularly by the rotary telephone and the old camera: 11 Sounds your Kids Have Probably Never Heard
5. I would have to say that I have a pretty serious case of arachnophobia. I recently woke up to find a relatively tiny spider crawling across my covers and nearly fell out of bed trying to get away from it. Even still, I found this video of this spider wrapping this bug completely fascinating—it’s amazing how God has created this animal to survive like this: