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Gratitude: Day 19

Day 19: Gratitude focus – A community worker

Quality or name of God – My Creator

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“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:13)

I’ve been trying to set up the wireless router to use in my apartment. Up until now, I’ve simply plugged the internet cable into the back of my computer, and it’s been just fine. But now that I’m editing on a more full-time basis, I want to be able to take my computer from room to room. I have a wireless router I purchased a few years ago, so I decided to once again put it to good use.

The problem came when I couldn’t remember all the steps required for connecting everything that needed to be connected! For two weeks now, I’ve been trying to remember how to hook this baby up. However, last night, as I read Psalm 139 in preparation for this post, I recalled an old story that Paul Harvey told on the radio many years ago, and that memory prodded me to get out the instructions for the wireless router—instructions that have been available all along.

As Paul Harvey told it, his wife had just purchased a new vacuum cleaner with a lot of fancy gadgets attached. He said that she needed to read the instruction manual to find out how those gadgets worked because the people who made the vacuum knew best how it should function. He wisely compared that to her need to daily go to her “Instruction Manual” (the Bible) to find out what her Creator had designed her to accomplish.

How often do I think I can do something on my own, work myself into exhaustion trying my own solutions and heading down the wrong paths, only to find that once I finally open the manual written by the One Who created me, the instructions have been there all along?

He created us. He wants what’s best for us. And He gave us the manual with all the instructions and “troubleshooting notes” we will ever need. We just need to use it.

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Additional reading (for reading through the Psalms in 30 days):

Psalm 19, 49, 79, 109, 139

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Ideas for demonstrating gratitude to the person of focus today:

»  – Send an email to thank your recipient for their work in the community. Keep it brief but sincere.

»$ – Send a card of thanks to your community worker of choice today. If possible and if applicable, have each person in your family sign the card.

$ – Send a plant or plate of cookies to the office of your community workers sometime this week. Thank them for their part in protecting and defending your family.

 » = free      »$ = minimal cost     $ = cost involved

 “Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.” (G .B. Stern)

By Petals from the Basket | November 19, 2012 | Bible Reading, Events, Ideas, Thirty Days of Gratitude |

Gratitude: Day 18

Day 18: Gratitude focus – A church volunteer 

Quality, action, or name of God – He lives!

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“The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!” (Psalm 18:46, NIV)

As with each Sunday this month, instead of posting a devotional thought this morning, I will simply share the verse that contains the name of God for today. Please take time today to worship the Lord with others around the teaching of God’s Word.

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Additional reading (for reading through the Psalms in 30 days):

Psalm 18, 48, 78, 108, 138

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Ideas for demonstrating gratitude to the person of focus today:

»  – Send an email to thank your recipient for their impact on your life through their volunteer work.

»$ – Take a card with you to church today to give to the volunteer you chose to thank. Include a gift card for a local coffee house or favorite eating establishment.

$ – Purchase an inexpensive gift for the church volunteer that you selected as your gratitude recipient.

 » = free      »$ = minimal cost     $ = cost involved

“Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless.” (Sherry Anderson)

By Petals from the Basket | November 18, 2012 | Bible Reading, Events, Ideas, Thirty Days of Gratitude |

Gratitude: Day 17

Day 17: Gratitude focus – A parent or grandparent 

Quality or name of God – He performs miracles

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“You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.” (Psalm 77:14, NIV)

Seldom have I attended a Bible study where the question did not come up: “Does God still perform miracles today?” The answers are always varied and passionate. In fact, those who read this post may have differing views as well.

In response to that, today’s thoughts will be briefly stated in one sentence that I trust will encourage you as much as it does me. So…here is what I know and what matters to me in answer to the question of miracles:

My God can do what seems impossible! (Luke 1:37)

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Additional reading (for reading through the Psalms in 30 days):

Psalm 17, 47, 77, 107, 137

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For some of you, your parents and/or grandparents are deceased. If so, please use this time today to thank our Heavenly Father for your heritage and the role it has played in your life.
 
Ideas for demonstrating gratitude to the person of focus today:

»  – Call your parents/grandparents, visit them, or send them an email to say a specific thank you for their impact on your life.

»$ – Spend time with your parents and/or grandparents. Take them a plant or Fall bouquet that will continue to remind them of your gratitude in the days ahead.

$ – Arrange to have a picture taken of you with your parents and/or grandparents. Purchase a frame and let them know you will provide a copy of the picture that they can place in the frame.

 » = free      »$ = minimal cost     $ = cost involved

“The family should be a closely knit group. The home should be a self-contained shelter of security; a kind of school where life’s basic lessons are taught; and a kind of church where God is honored; a place where wholesome recreation and simple pleasures are enjoyed.” (Rev. Billy Graham)

By Petals from the Basket | November 17, 2012 | Bible Reading, Events, Family, Ideas, Thirty Days of Gratitude |

Gratitude: Day 16

Day 16: Gratitude focus – A friend from my neighborhood or community

Quality or name of God – My Strength

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Four years ago this month, I spent the entire month recovering from major surgery. (God is good, all is well, and that is all that will be said about that part of it.) My dear parents came to Michigan for the entire month of November to live with me, cook for me, clean for me, and take care of me. To this day I still can’t get over what an amazing gift of time and love that represented!

“God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.” (psalm 46:1, NLT)

Today’s verse reminded me of my first few days at home that month. I lived in a relatively small flat, and my mom or dad would walk “laps” with me around the dining room table, into the living room, and back the full length of the apartment to my bedroom. By that point, I was ready for a nap! I could do nothing on my own. I had zero strength. I had to rely totally on the strength of others. I looked around and saw that things were getting done, but it was nothing I was doing—because there was nothing I could do!

It’s when we get to that point spiritually—the point where we acknowledge that we have no strength of our own and therefore we must rely on the strength of Another—that we realize how awesome it is that He is our Strength! When our hands are empty and our strength is spent, that’s often when we can see that He already gave His all to provide the strength we need!

But there’s more! From the words of an old song (“He Giveth More Grace”) we are reminded that this gift of strength and power is not just a one-time thing: “He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!”

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Additional reading (for reading through the Psalms in 30 days):

Psalm 16, 46, 76, 106, 136

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Ideas for demonstrating gratitude to the person of focus today:
 
“A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good, but for neglecting his neighbor’s.” (Richard Whately)

»  – Call your neighbor or community gratitude recipient to thank him or her for impacting your life. Keep the conversation focused on them, and be respectful of their time.

»$ – Make a plate of cookies or a simple craft item to take to person of focus. Keep it simple! The magnitude of the act is in the giving—not in the gift. (Hey, I like that…I might use that again sometime!)

$ – Give your neighbor or friend from the community a gift card to a local restaurant or invite the recipient to join you for a concert or sporting event—and then treat them to coffee after the event!

» = free      »$ = minimal cost     $ = cost involved

 

By Petals from the Basket | November 16, 2012 | Bible Reading, Events, Friends, Ideas, Thirty Days of Gratitude |

Gratitude: Day 15

Day 15: Gratitude focus – A person you have met within the past year

Quality or name of God – Good

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“Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; celebrate His lovely name with music.” (Psalm 135:3, NLT)

Can you keep a secret? Every year on July 1st, I play Christmas music—all day! It’s one of those odd rituals that contains no explanation other than that right about that time of the summer I have a hankerin’ for Christmas music! I let myself enjoy it that one day, and then I’m good to go until November 1st. Yes, I’m one of those. But at least I wait to put up my tree until the first available minute after Thanksgiving…usually!

I have another Christmas ritual, and I would like you to think about joining me in it this year. Each year I use the book of Luke as my “advent calendar.” Here’s how it works: Luke has 24 chapters. There are 24 days in the countdown to Christmas. So I just read the chapter that corresponds to the day of the month, and then I go back and re-read Luke 2 on Christmas Day! I have friends that have started to include their families in the daily readings. What an awesome way to get your children excited to learn about Jesus—from His birth to His resurrection—as they anticipate Christmas day!

What I have loved about doing this (and some of you have done this with me for several years now, so you’ve experienced it, too), is that in reading a chapter from the Book of Luke each day, you get to see the entire life of Christ and gain a more vivid picture of why He came to earth—the event we remember on the 25th! It has transformed how I look at Christmas and made the celebration all the more joyful!

I love that our verse for today reminds us to recall the fact that our Lord is good and to “celebrate His lovely name with music!” That’s got “Christmas carols” written all over it, don’t you agree? As we sing the familiar words this year, I trust that each of us will recall with gratitude His goodness to us not just during the holidays, but every day the whole year through!

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Additional reading (for reading through the Psalms in 30 days):

Psalm 15, 45, 75, 105, 135

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Ideas for demonstrating gratitude to the person of focus today:

»  – Send an email to thank your recipient for their impact on your life in the short time that you have known them.

»$ – Meet your friend for a cup of coffee or tea at a central location. If your friend lives too far away for a few moments together, mail a card or letter telling your friend how grateful you are to have met them at some point this past year.

$ – Purchase an inexpensive gift for the new friend that you selected as your gratitude recipient. Surprise them with this “I’m-glad-God-introduced-us” act of kindness next time you see them!

 » = free      »$ = minimal cost     $ = cost involved

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one!’” (C. S. Lewis) 

By Petals from the Basket | November 15, 2012 | Bible Reading, Events, Friends, Ideas, Thirty Days of Gratitude |