Sunday, May 6, 2018

GROWING SEEDS: Let Me Teach You Thankfulness

"LET ME TEACH YOU THANKFULNESS
Begin by acknowledging that everything - 
all your possessions and all that you are - 
belong to Me.  
The dawning of each new day is a gift from Me, not to be taken for granted.  
If you slow down your pace of life, you can find Me anywhere.  
The secret of being Thankful is learning to see everything....from My perspective." * 
GOD


Exactly six months ago this very day, a 51 year old man by the name of Glen Simmons went to work.....came home.....ate supper....watched TV with his kids.....talked to his neighbors and called his mom.  He and his wife of 30 years, Kristin, had the next chapters of their lives all mapped out.....once the kids were grown, they were going to travel, spoil grandchildren and grow old together.  But the next day, he learned he had Stage 4 liver cancer and very little time left to say what needed to be said.  Glen died on April 29. 

Life doesn't always go the way we planned.  Sometimes chapters are skipped in this book of our life and go straight to the last page of the book in an instant.  We are left wondering why......and wishing for more time.  But Glen and his family lived Thankfulness even....no, especially....through the last painful 6 months.   They were Thankful for the time they were given to say the things we put off saying till tomorrow cause we are too busy living today.  They were Thankful for just enough strength for Glen to walk his daughter down the aisle in January.  They were Thankful for a host of friends who loved them big and for family who told him he made a difference during his time on earth.....as they watched him fade.  I learned a lot watching this Simmons family walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.  

Everything that Glen was.....belonged to God.  He knew that the dawning of each new day was a GIFT from God.....not to be taken for granted.....but rather, to be cherished and handled gently and carefully.   

He didn't ask "Why Me?" but rather....."Why Not Me?".  

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
In Me you have everything you need, 
both for this life and for the life yet to come."


*Jesus Calling, April 29

No comments: