Glimpses of Gratitude 2

Enter His gates with thanksgiving
         And His courts with praise
         Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
    For the LORD is good;
         His lovingkindness is everlasting
         And His faithfulness to all generations (Psalm 100:4-5, NASB).


The world around us (and too often we ourselves) greets the work week with "a case of the Mondays."  God is no less good, no less loving, no less faithful on Mondays than on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.  May His joy shine forth from His people as we lean into His transforming grace to renew our minds through His Word.  May we enter the gates of this week with thanksgiving and praise to His holy name.

Gleanings from my gratitude list, #512-639:
-Stronger asthma medicine which is improving breathing comfort
-E-mails from two good friends
-Phone conversations with my grandmother, a distant friend, and my sisters
-Employment for a friend after long waiting and prayers
-10-degree drop in temperature for half the week
-Nearly an inch of needed rain
-Slow but steady strength gains
-Brenda, the woman who cleans for me every other week
-Half a top-secret knitting project completed
-Eating the frog first 
-Beauty Will Rise
-Disappointed desires offered to God in worship
-Even the most profound griefs are momentary, light afflictions from the perspective of eternity.
-Sandy grains of stinging troubles are producing weighty pearls of glory far beyond all comparison
-Open communication, even when it's uncomfortable
-Husband's wise counsel for needs around us
-Answered prayers
-Able to attend worship at neighborhood church with less pain than last time
-Monarch butterfly's aerial show in backyard

Blessing the Boundaries, Part 4

"So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹But he said to me,  "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:7-10, ESV).

None of us likes pain.  Pain captures our attention so we will attend to something wrong.  These words from the apostle Paul, however, offer a supernatural perspective on the fences of pain, weakness, and limitations that either confine us or set us free.

Last week on a day of aches and anxiety, this familiar passage came up in my usual read-through-the-Bible schedule.  Sometimes, in spite of myself, words so familiar may flow past my eyes without really penetrating my soul.  In the context of the day's fears, though, the word that pierced through was "given."  The thorn (more like a stake than a splinter) was given to him, a gift.  Twice he repeats the purpose, "to keep me from becoming conceited."

His thorn was a gift to puncture his pride, the pride which blocks the flow of grace and draws God's opposition (James 4:6). Many writers have told me that pride, the desire to be my own god, is the root of all other sins.  It is the enemy of my deepest desire to know Christ.  Consequently, anything which deals a blow to pride is truly a gift.  Yes, Paul also attributes causation and ill intent to Satan, but the context indicates that God allows that harassment for a greater good.

Still, three times Paul prayed for the thorn's removal.  (Here is no fatalism or refusal of the means available for healing.)  Three times his prayer was refused.  With the final "no," he received some explanation.  God's grace is enough, enough for him.  God's power is most fully displayed in human weakness.  Sufficient grace for me, God's power in me--aren't those the things Christians long for?  Aren't they what I long for?

The explanation that accompanied refusal seems to have transformed Paul's outlook on the limitations imposed by his thorn.  No longer pleading with the Lord for its removal, now he boasts gladly of his weaknesses and rests content in them because he recognizes they are the means of experiencing and displaying the strength and power of Christ.

I have not arrived yet at such glad boasting, but it is my destination.  May we learn not only to accept God's "no," but to delight in it.  Amen.

Blessing the Boundaries, Part 3

"No"

Teach me to remember, Lord,
When Thou dost answer, “No,”
Thou also sayest, soft and tender,
“Child, I love thee so,
And though this way to thee seems hard,
Desire withheld so sweet;
For thee I’ve something better still,
So trust, and wait on Me.”

A poem from 1997

You may also like Gitzen Girl's post today: God is God.

Glimpses of Gratitude

For more than a decade, my journaling practice has included writing down specific thanks to God for His goodness in my days.  Like daily spiritual medicine, this has proven one of the most transforming habits of faith for me, since gratitude is diametrically opposed to anxiety and discontent.  The written aspect slows me down long enough to reflect and recognize graces I might otherwise rush right past.

Ann at A Holy Experience added the new idea of numbering the list.  Recently I started over at 1 with the new chapter of this lupus flare.  Here are a few glimpses from my list the last two weeks:

377. Positive progress report from my rheumatologist (with some activity restrictions relaxed)
408. Neighbor available, skilled, and willing to help at the very moment a family member's car battery died in my driveway!
416. Left the house for non-medical reasons for the first time in six weeks
432. Time with my mom and both sisters
438. My husband's help with blog set-up and tech support
451. Loose leaf tea
466. Positive report from cardiology workup
467. Above-and-beyond kindness of lab tech who performed stress echo
489. Watching our wedding video on our anniversary
491. Strength to dress up and go out to an actual restaurant for our anniversary supper
505. Nearly pain-free yesterday

If this strikes a chord with you, dear Crumble, won't you consider beginning your own list and joining the Gratitude Community?  You will be thankful you did.

Eleven

Today at Wits' End we are reflecting on and celebrating God's faithfulness through 11 years of marriage.  Some couples may set five- and 10-year goals in premarital counseling and systematically check them off, one by one.  We are not one of those couples.

The last 11 years have not resembled our expectations at all.  We went to Thailand, not India.  We stayed less than a year, not the rest of our lives.  The months have filled with much less international travel and much more time at computers and in medical offices than we ever dreamed.  We own a mortgage in my hometown, and our third dog keeps us laughing and chaperones us on movie nights.

Although the path has continually surprised us, our faithful Lord has never let us down.  Through it all, He and my beloved husband have proven themselves always much better than I deserve or could ask.