What if I woke up tomorrow with only the things I thanked Him for today?
That is one of those rhetorical questions that I think can be very useful to guide my perspective into a right place. Yesterday during my last ever Reunion de Jovens Bible Study, Pastor Ruben spoke. This stuck with me, he talked of a poor man who any time he got a bite to eat or a drink of water he would say:
"¿Y esto me das además de Jesucristo?"
(And this You give to me, beyond/on top of giving me Jesus Christ?)
If I forget to be thankful, truly thankful, I am really forgetting who I am, where I came from, what I've done, and what I deserve. I think thankfulness is such a theme in the Bible because He knew that pride and thankfulness cannot occupy the same space.
Today the girls and I read Psalm 103 for school.
So that was inside my head today. Outside in the real world:
Abi and I made a surprise Thanksgiving breakfast (hooray for early mornings!) complete with name cards and a banner.
She was SO excited, which was a lot of fun...until her excitement bade her rise and hour earlier than the early-enough-as-it-was plan we had and begin scraping chairs across the floor and clang dishes in the cupboards. Mom, you know how mornings are for me, you would have been proud of my composure.
Bethany and I made a FEAST of chicken, stuffing, nan, corn casserole and pumpkin pie. [Thankfulness insert: I think today was the best day Bethany and I have had together :)] Happy Thanksgiving! Even if the 75 degrees, warm,breezy, blue-sky weather confuses my system, my full contented tummy recognizes what holiday it is :) During the prayer we went around the table and each thanked Him for one thing. Eli shyly dipped her head down, smiled and said one word that made my eyes start to hurt. I'm not saying I cried, but, my lashes got damp.
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Today the girls and I read Psalm 103 for school.
"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name"
"who forgives all your iniquity, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, Who satisfies you with good"
"The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love"
"He does not deal with us according to our sins"
"For as high as the heavens are above the earth,so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him;as far as the east is from the west,so far does He remove our transgressions from us.As a father shows compassion to his children,so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust."
"Bless the Lord, O my soul."I am struck dumb by that. But, I want to tell you some things I am thankful for that are "past 3 months in Argentina" specific. If I were to open the list broader than that...well, first of all it would start oozing out of the boundaries of this blog, and second...there has to be SOME way narrow it down a little. I mean, whoa.
- I get hugged and kissed and told "I love you" every day (what would it be like to not feel loved?)
- Skype
- The Caceres family
- I am more confident speaking Spanish than ever before
- either I have gotten better or prayers that I would release my grip on pride have been answered...both would be nice
- I have been surrounded by Spanish for 3 months
- I got to try on the home-school shoe :)
- I have my own room, and my own bathroom
- Bethany likes cooking...we get to bake a lot
- I haven't gotten sick-sick here
- Bible Studies
- God has given me encouraging people/interactions that refresh my heart and keep me motivated
- Eye opening opportunity to work with the deaf and the translation project
- I have been given the opportunity to learn (I said learn, not master)....
- patience
- patience
- flexibility
- not putting my worth in how intelligent I appear
- not putting my worth in feeling like everyone's favorite person
- not putting my worth in the amount of attention I receive
- the importance of asking questions
- the value of a small look or a smile given to someone who may not be adding to a conversation
So that was inside my head today. Outside in the real world:
Abi and I made a surprise Thanksgiving breakfast (hooray for early mornings!) complete with name cards and a banner. She was SO excited, which was a lot of fun...until her excitement bade her rise and hour earlier than the early-enough-as-it-was plan we had and begin scraping chairs across the floor and clang dishes in the cupboards. Mom, you know how mornings are for me, you would have been proud of my composure.
Bethany and I made a FEAST of chicken, stuffing, nan, corn casserole and pumpkin pie. [Thankfulness insert: I think today was the best day Bethany and I have had together :)] Happy Thanksgiving! Even if the 75 degrees, warm,breezy, blue-sky weather confuses my system, my full contented tummy recognizes what holiday it is :) During the prayer we went around the table and each thanked Him for one thing. Eli shyly dipped her head down, smiled and said one word that made my eyes start to hurt. I'm not saying I cried, but, my lashes got damp.
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