It's the Little Things

I'm back home again after two weeks in Florida.  It's a cold, beautiful morning here with a dusting of snow on the ground......quite different from what I have experienced over the last couple of weeks!!  As I'm going about my morning tasks, including conquering a mountain of laundry, I'm reflecting with gratitude on my experiences of the last two weeks.

Some of the things I'm grateful for this morning:

• family time with Brian, Emily and Christopher.
• that really big Christopher hug when we picked him up from school.
• fresh strawberries straight from the strawberry patch.
• strawberry milkshakes.
• reconnecting with friends I haven't seen for a while.
• sunshine and warm temperatures.
• relaxing by the pool with a good book.
• strawberries from the Ghiaradelli store on Valentine's Day.
• a good visit with Al's parents.
• a dear friend who took care of Molly so I could travel with Al.
• a great day of worship and fellowship at FBS yesterday.
• a safe trip home last night.

But......and don't laugh.....one of the things I'm most grateful for this morning is a good night's sleep last night.  With my own pillow.  We stayed in some really nice hotels.  But they did not have great pillows!  I missed my pillow!!  A lot!!  So this morning, I'm really grateful to be reunited with that pillow.  Smile.  Contented sigh.

It's the little things, isn't it??!!

What "little things" are you grateful for this morning?

"In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 
                                              (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NASB)

With All My Heart

My earliest Valentine memories are of red construction paper hearts and white paper doilies and heart-shaped candies with messages like "Be Mine".  Back in elementary school (way back in the 1950s!!) we made our valentine "mailboxes" out of construction paper, or by decorating brown paper bags with construction paper hearts.

As I grew older, Valentine's Day came to be less about construction paper and more about flowers and chocolates that came in heart-shaped boxes.

Fast-forward to 1971, when I was a college student and was invited by a friend to attend a Valentine party at her church.  There I met a young man who had just been discharged from his military service and had returned home.  A little more than a year later, on a warm summer evening, I married that young man!  We drove away from the church that evening singing along with Karen Carpenter......"We've only just begun....".
For the nearly 40 years that we have been married, that has remained "our song".

But today, I have another song ringing in my heart.   On this day when all the world is thinking about hearts and flowers and chocolates and love, my thoughts have turned to what love is really all about.  To that greatest expression of love.  To the Savior who gave His life that I might have life eternal.  Today, this is the song I'm singing......

With all my heart

I want to love you, Lord,

And live my life

Each day to know you more.

All that is in me

Is yours completely.

I'll serve you only

With all my heart.

(--Babbie Mason)

On this Valentine's Day, yes, I love my husband.......my sweetheart for all these years......and I'm so grateful for that party invitation all those years ago.  He really is my Knight in Shining Armour, my very own Prince Charming!!

But even more than that, I am so very grateful for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who loved me, not because I was worthy of His love, but even though I am not.  Who loved me enough to die for me!  That's the best Valentine ever!!

"We love because He first loved us."  (1 John 4:19 NASB)

Out of Control

"Nana, I'm out of control!"  So began a conversation with my grandson Christopher a couple of weeks ago.  I've been chuckling about it ever since!

Christopher turned 5 a couple of weeks ago.  His actual birthday was on Monday, so the party was held on the prior Saturday.  On that particular Saturday morning, I was on the phone with Christopher's dad, my older son Brian, and could sense that Christopher's excitement about the coming party was causing a little stress for his parents!!  The same child who, just a few weeks earlier, had said to his mother something like "when it's my birthday and all my friends come to my house, can we clean this place up a little bit?" was now being most unhelpful when it came to party preparations!!  And when Brian handed the phone off to Christopher, those were the first words I heard......"Nana, I'm out of control!"  Made me wonder just how many times he had already heard that phrase that morning :)

I had a good laugh about that on that Saturday.  As I related the conversation to Al, we had a good laugh.  In the weeks since, I have smiled a lot as I considered Christopher being "out of control".

However.......thinking about that phrase has also caused me to stop and consider my own life.  To get serious about the times I am out of control.  The times I eat too much.  Or the times I eat the wrong things.  Or the times I spend too much.  Or when I waste time. Or........

And, without meaning to be the least irreverent or sacreligious, I wonder how often my Heavenly Father is shaking His head at me and saying, "Susan, you're out of control." 

There are the times I have "done my own thing" rather than waiting on God.  The times I have made decisions and then just expected that God would approve and bless them.  The times I have forgotten to say "thank You".  The times I have tried to lead rather than follow.

So, while it was cute to hear a 5-year old "confess" to me that he was out of control, it isn't nearly as cute when I, many decades older, must confess to my Heavenly Father that I have been out of control!

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control....."  (Galatians 5:22-23 NASB)