Kick the Bully in the Pants

With all the cockiness of a neighborhood bully, the thought swaggers up to the door and says. . .“You’re a loser.  All your life you’ve been a loser.  You might as well write the word bum on your resume, for that’s what you are.” The average person would throw open the door and let the thought in.  “You’re right.  I’m a bum.  Come on in.”

But as a Christian, you aren’t your average person.  You’re led by the Spirit of God. So rather than let the thought in, you take it captive; you present the thought before the judgment seat of Christ.  How do you know if Jesus agrees or disagrees?  You open your Bible.  Romans 8:1 is a good place to check. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

So, give the bully a firm kick in the pants—and watch him run!

You Harvest what you plantPretend you’ve come to visit me.  I’m working in my greenhouse.  (Neither my house nor my thumb is green, but let’s pretend.) It’s the perfect spot for flowers and fruit. You’ve always thought I was a bit crazy, but what I do next removes all doubt. I strip seeds off weeds—crab grass, grass burrs. You can’t believe what you’ve just seen.

“I thought you wanted a greenhouse full of flowers and fruit!” you say.

“I do,” I answer.

You ask, “Then don’t you think you ought to plant flower seeds and fruit seeds?”

My foolish response, “Do you have any idea how much those seeds cost?  No thanks, I’m taking the cheap and easy route.”

Think for a moment of your heart as a greenhouse. Consider your thoughts as seed. Some become flowers.  Others weeds.  Sow seeds of hope and enjoy optimism. Sow seeds of doubt and expect insecurity.

Galatians 6:7 says, “People harvest only what they plant.”

We are all beggars

We are all beggars in need of bread. “Give us this day our daily bread,” we pray. (Matthew 6:11). You may prefer, “We are all hungry, in need of bread.”  Such a phrase certainly has more dignity than the word beggar.  Who wants to be called a beggar?  After all, didn’t you create the ground in which the seed was sown? No? Well at least you made the seed? Right? You didn’t?

What about the sun?  Did you provide the heat during the day?  Or the rain.  Did you send the clouds?  No?   Then exactly what did you do?

You harvested food you didn’t make from an earth you didn’t create. Let me see if I have this straight. Had God not done His part, you would have no food. Hmmm. . .perhaps we best return to the word beggar. We are all beggars, in need of bread!

ResentmentResentment is a prison.  When you’ve put someone in your jail cell of hatred, you are stuck guarding the door.  If you’re

out to settle a score, you are never going to rest.  How can you?  For one thing, your enemy may never pay up.

As much as you think you deserve an apology, your debtor may not agree.  The racist may never repent.  The chauvinist may never change. As justified as you are in your quest for vengeance, you may never get a penny’s worth of justice.  And if you do, will it be enough?

You see, resentment is a prison.  Jesus doesn’t question the reality of your wounds.  He just doubts whether resentment is going to heal you.  What are you going to do?  Spend your life guarding the prison jail cell?  Or entrust your wounds to Jesus?

The Father’s Outstretched Arms

The prodigal son. Going home a changed man.  No longer demanding he get what he deserved, but willing to take whatever he could get. How many years had it been? As the boy came around the bend that led to his house, he rehearsed his speech one more time. He turned to open the gate, but the father already had.

“Father I have sinned,” he said. (Luke 15:21).  The two wept.  Words were unnecessary.  Forgiveness had been given.

If there’s a scene that deserves to be framed, it’s the one of the Father’s outstretched hands. His hands call us home. Imagine those hands.  Stretching open like a wide gate, leaving entrance as the only option. He forced His arms so wide apart that it hurt. And to prove that those arms would never fold and those hands would never close, He had them nailed open

Running the Race You know as well as I do, it’s one thing to start something. It’s something else entirely to complete it.  Relax!  “Don’t start what you can’t finish” is not my point!

To be honest, I don’t believe you should finish everything you start.  Every student with homework just perked up. There are certain quests better left undone, some projects wisely abandoned. Though I wouldn’t list homework as one

of them!  We can become so obsessed with completion that we become blind to effectiveness.  No, my desire is not to convince you to finish everything.  My desire is to encourage you to finish the right thing.

Certain races are optional.  Other races are essential—like the race of faith.  Consider this admonition from the author of Hebrews in chapter 12:1, “Let us run the race that is before us and never give up!”

Finish strong, my friend

In Debt

Debt.  To be in debt is to owe someone something.  If that’s true, isn’t it appropriate for us to speak of debt in our prayer, for aren’t we all in debt to God? Aren’t we in God’s debt when we disobey His commands?  Rather than love our neighbor, we hurt our neighbor. Aren’t we in God’s debt when we disregard Him? He makes the universe and we applaud science.  Maybe if I wave at my neighbor or go to church next Sunday, I’ll get caught up. But how do you know when you’ve made enough? That’s the problem.  You never can.

Romans 4:5 says, “People cannot do any work that will make them right with God.”

You’re going to spend the rest of your days huffing and puffing to get to the drive-through window before the bank closes.  Just try this– trust His grace!  It is God who justifies your account!

Only You and God 

When I lived in Brazil I took my mom and her friend to see Iguacu Falls, the largest water falls in the world. I’d become an expert by reading an article in National Geographic magazine. Surely, I thought, my guests would appreciate their good fortune in having me as their guide.

To reach the lookout point, you must walk a winding trail that leads through a forest.  I used the time to give a nature report to my mom and her friend. I caught myself speaking louder and louder.  Finally I was shouting above the roar.  Even my mother would rather see the splendor than hear my description.  So, I shut my mouth.

There are times when to speak is to violate the moment.  When silence represents the highest respect. The word for such times is reverence.  The prayer for such times is “Hallowed be Thy name!” (Matthew 6:9).

Spend Time with Him

C. S. Lewis wrote: “The moment you wake up each morning your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job of each morning consists in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, letting that other, stronger, larger, quieter life come flowing in.”

Here’s how the psalmist began his day: “Every morning, I tell you what I need, and I wait for your answer” (Psalm 5:3).

Spend time waiting on God. And, at the end of the day, thank God for the good parts. Question him about the hard parts. Seek his mercy.  Seek his strength. And as you close your eyes, take this assurance into your sleep: “He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4).  If you fall asleep as you pray, don’t worry. What better place to doze off than in the arms of your Father.

A Basin of Water

I looked for a Bible translation that reads, “Jesus washed all the disciples’ feet except the feet of Judas.” I couldn’t find one.

A couple once told me about a storm they were weathering.  She learned of an act of infidelity that had occurred a decade ago.  And as you can imagine, she was deeply hurt. She could have left. Women have done so for lesser reasons. But on advice of a counselor, they went away for several days. On the fourth night of the trip, he found a card on his pillow. It said: “I’d rather do nothing with you than something without you.” Beneath that she’d written these words: I forgive you.  I love you.  Let’s move on.

Certain conflicts can be resolved only with a basin of water. Jesus made sure His disciples had no reason to doubt His love. Why don’t you do the same?

No Small Power 

Where there’s no assurance of salvation, there’s no peace.  No peace means no joy.  No joy results in fear-based lives.  Is this the life God creates?  No.  Grace creates a confident soul.  His love isn’t contingent on your own.  Do you find such a promise hard to believe?  In John 17:11 and verse 20, Jesus prays:

“Holy Father, keep them and care for them, all those you have given me, so that they will be united just as we are.  I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony.”

Our faith will wane, our resolve waver, but we will not fall away.  Jude 1 says, we are “kept by Jesus” and shielded by God’s power.  And that is no small power!  It’s the power of a living and ever-persistent Savior.

From GRACE

His Kingdom Will Never End 

In Bethlehem, the human being who best understood who God was and what he was doing, is a teenage girl in a smelly stable. As Mary looks into the face of the baby.  Her son. Her Lord.  His majesty—she can’t take her eyes off him.  Somehow Mary knows she’s holding God. So this is he.

She remembers the words of the angel.  “His kingdom will never end!”

He looks like anything but a king. His cry, though strong and healthy, is still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. Majesty in the midst of the mundane.  Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat.  Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter.

God came near!

“And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end. Luke 1:33″ 

Completely Human

When a bookstore owner told me a woman had stomped into his shop, angry, slamming one of my books on the counter, I knew exactly what he was talking about.  I wrote that Jesus may have had pimples.  He may have had bony knees.  But I said, “One thing’s for sure, he was, while completely divine, completely human.”

There’s something safe about a God who never had calluses. There’s something majestic about a God who

never scraped his elbow.  But there’s also something cold about a God who cannot relate to what you and I feel.

Rejection?  He felt it.  Temptation?  He knew it. Loneliness?  He experienced it.  Death?  He tasted it.  And stress?  He could write a best-selling book about it.

Why did he do it?  One reason.  So that when you’re hurt, you’ll go to him and let him heal you!

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Hebrews 4:15.”

Seeing You

Why does God love you so much?

For the same reason the artist loves his paintings.  You are His idea!

Ephesians 2:10 confirms that we are “God’s masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

In the movie Hook, Peter Pan had become old and looked nothing like the Peter the lost boys knew.  In

the midst of the boys shouting that this was NOT Peter, one of the smallest boys pulled him down to his level.  He places his hands on Peter’s face, moved the skin around and reshaped his face.  The boy looked into Peter’s eyes and said, “There you are, Peter!”

Shh.  Listen.  Do you hear?

God is saying the same words to you.  There you are!  There you are!

He’s seeing you and loving the you he sees

Tell the Truth

Some of us could state our credo as, “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you squirm.”

Our dislike for the truth began at age three when mom walked in our rooms and asked, “Did you hit your little brother?” We knew then and there that honesty had its consequences.  “Did I hit baby brother?  Well, that all depends on how you interpret the word hit.”

We want our bosses to like us, so we flatter. God calls it a lie. We want people to admire us, so we exaggerate.  God calls it a lie.  We want people to respect us, so we live in houses we can’t afford and charge bills we can’t pay.  God calls it living a lie.

The cure for deceit is simply this: face the music. The ripple of today’s lie is tomorrow’s wave and next year’s flood.

Be just like Jesus.  Tell the truth!

God loves you still

We give more applause to a brawny ball-carrier than we do to the God who made us.  We sing more songs to the moon than to the Christ who saved us. And if He doesn’t give us what we want, we say He doesn’t exist.  God has every reason to abandon us. I sure would. I’d wash my hands of the whole mess and start over.  But does He?

You think you’ve committed an act that places you outside His love?  You think He’d love you more if you hadn’t done it, right?  You think He would love you more if you did more, right?  Wrong.  Wrong.  God’s love sees your sin and loves you still.  Do you need to repent?  Yes.  But do you repent for His sake or yours?  Yours!

God’s love needs no bolstering.  And He could not love you more than He does right now.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

Holiness in a bathrobeWhat you may see in the mirror as morning disaster is, in reality, a morning miracle. Holiness in a bathrobe!  When God sees us, He also sees Christ.  He sees perfection!  Not perfection earned by us, mind you, but perfection paid for by Him.

Scripture says:  “For God caused Christ, who Himself knew nothing of sin, actually to be sin for our sakes, so that in Christ we might be made good with the goodness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21)

You are absolutely perfect.  In Christ, you are flawless. Without defect. Unrivaled.  Undeserved yet unreserved perfection.  No wonder heaven applauds when you wake up!  A masterpiece has stirred.

Go ahead, get dressed, shave, comb the hair.  Do it for yourself.  For the sake of your image.  Do it to keep your job. But don’t do it for God.  He’s already seen you as you really are.  And in His book, you’re perfect.

We are God’s ideaWhy does a mother love her newborn child?  Because the baby is hers?  Even more so… because the baby is her!  Her blood.  Her flesh. Her hope.  Her legacy.  It doesn’t bother her that the baby gives nothing.  She knows a newborn is helpless, weak.  She knows babies don’t ask to come into this world.  And God knows we didn’t either.

We are God’s idea.  We are His.  His face.  His eyes.  His hands.  Look deeply into the face of every human being on earth, and you will see His likeness.  Though some appear to be distant relatives, they are not. We are, incredibly, the body of Christ.  And though we may not act like our Father, there is no greater truth than this:  We are His.  Unalterably.  He loves us.  Undyingly.

And Scripture says, “not height nor depth, not any other created thing…nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.” (Romans 8:39)

I’d be a fool not to believe Him.

The Names of God 

In the three years as I came to know my wife, Denalyn, our relationship evolved. And with each change came a new name.  She went from acquaintance to friend to eye-popping beauty to date to fiancée and wife. Now she is confidante, mother of my children, life-long partner.  The more I know her the more names I give her.

And the more God’s people came to know him, the more names they gave him.  Elohim, strong one or creator.  Jehovah-raah, a caring shepherd. Jehovah-jireh, the Lord who provides. These are just a few of the names of God which describe his character.  Study them, for in a given day, you may need each one of them.

God, the shepherd who leads, the Lord who provides, the voice who brings peace in the storm, the physician who heals the sick, the banner that guides. And most of all…He Is!

The burlap bag of burdens

Worry is the burlap bag of burdens.  It’s overflowing with “whaddifs” and “howells.” Whaddif after all my dieting, I find that lettuce is fattening and chocolate isn’t?  Howell will we pay our baby’s tuition?”  Whaddifs andhowells…the burlap bag of worry. Cumbersome. Chunky. Unattractive. Scratchy.  Irritating to carry and impossible to give away! No one wants your worries.  The truth is, you don’t want them either. No one has to remind you of the high cost of anxiety, but I will anyway. Worry divides the mind.  It splits our energy between today’s priorities and tomorrow’s problems.  The result is half-minded living!

Hebrews 4:16 encourages us to “boldly approach the throne of our gracious God, where we may receive mercy and, in His grace, find timely help.”  God’s help is timely!  God will do the right thing at the right time.  And what a difference that makes!

Dad, your child is You-nique

Every child is born with a unique blend of strengths and characteristics. Don’t see your child as a blank slate awaiting your pen, but as a written book awaiting your study.

What is the S-T-O-R-Y of your child?

1.  What is their Strength? Master pianist Van Cliburn, at the age of two, could pick out a song on the piano simply as a result of listening to lessons going on in the adjacent room. His mother spotted this and, as a result, gave him daily lessons. The

little kid from Kilgore, Texas won the International Tchaikovsky Piano competition in Moscow. Why? Because a parent spotted a skill and strengthened it.[1]

2. What Topics turn their heads? Numbers? When are they delightfully lost in a project? John Ruskin said, “Tell me what you like and I’ll tell you who you are.” [2]

3. What is their Optimal setting?  Pine trees need a different soil than oak trees. A cactus thrives in a different environment than a rosebush does. What about the soil and the environment of your child? Some kids love to be noticed. Others prefer to be hidden in the crowd. Some relish deadlines and challenges. Others need ample preparation time and help. We each have a different optimal setting.

4. How about Relationships? When it comes to people, what phrase best describes your child?

“Follow me, everyone.” “I’ll let you know if I need some help.” “Can we do this together?”

The loner is not necessarily aloof; the crowd-seeker is not always lacking focus. They may be living out their story. In which environment does your child flourish? And, when do they say:

5. “Yes!”  What gives them satisfaction and pleasure? Do they love the journey or the goal? Do they like to keep things straight or straighten things out? What thrills one person bothers another. The Apostle Peter liked to keep the boat steady while Paul was prone to rock it.

Strength. Topic. Optimal setting. Relationships. Yes!  What S-T-O-R-Y   is God writing with your child? God doesn’t give parents manuscripts to write, but codes to decode. Study your kids while you can. The greatest gift you can give your children is not your riches but to reveal to them their own.

Do It God’s way

In the game of golf, logic says, “Don’t go for the green.” Golf 101 says, “Don’t go for the green.”  But I say, “Give me my driver, I’m going for the green!”  Golf reveals a lot about a person.  I don’t need advice—whack!  I can handle this myself—clang!

Can you relate? We want to do things our way.  Forget the easy way and forget the best way. Forget God’s way. Too

much stubbornness. Too much independence.  Too much self-reliance.  All I needed to do was apologize, but I had to argue.  All I needed to do was listen, but I had to open my big mouth.  All I needed to do was be patient, but I had to take control.  All I had to do was give it to God, but I tried to fix it myself.

Scripture says, “Do it God’s way.”  Experience says, “Do it God’s way.”  And every so often, we do!  We might even make the green.

You have hope

For many, hope is in short supply. Hopelessness is an odd bag. Unlike others, it isn’t full. It’s empty, and its emptiness creates the burden. Unzip the top and examine all the pockets. Turn it upside down and shake it hard. The bag of hopelessness is painfully empty! Not a very pretty picture, is it?  What would it take to restore your hope? One comes quickly to mind…a person.  Not just any person. You need someone to look you in the face and say, “This isn’t the end.  Don’t give up.  There’s a better place than this.  And I’ll lead you there.”

David, in Psalm 23, used these words, “He restores my soul.”  God majors in restoring hope to the soul. Please note that you always have hope!  Psalm 121:7 says, “The Lord will keep you from all harm—He will watch over your life.” He’s the perfect one to do so!

Where does my help come from?

David said in Psalm 121, “I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from?”  And David answers his own question, “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip, He who watches over you will not slumber. The Lord watches over you. The Lord will keep you from all harm, He will watch over your life.”

God—your rescuer, has the right vision.  He also has the right direction. He made the boldest claim in the history of man when He declared, “I am the way.”  People wondered if the claim was accurate. He answered their question by forging a path through the underbrush of sin and death—escaping alive.

Maybe you need your hope restored.  If so, lift up your eyes. Like David said, look unto the hills…look unto the One who made you and He will give you help.

Goodness and mercyOur moods may shift, but God’s doesn’t. Our minds may change, but God’s doesn’t. Our devotion may falter, but God’s never does. God is faithful, for He cannot betray Himself. He is a sure God. And because He is, we can state confidently what David exclaimed in his 23rd Psalm:  “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”

What are those words that follow the word surely? “Goodness and mercy.” If the Lord is the shepherd who leads the flock, goodness and mercy are the two sheepdogs that guard the rear of the flock! Goodness AND mercy.  Not goodness alone, for we are sinners in need of mercy. Not mercy alone, for we are fragile, in need of goodness. We need them both. Goodness and mercy—the celestial escort of God’s flock.  If that duo doesn’t reinforce your faith, try this phrase: “all the days of my life!”

Stand up

God’s efforts are strongest when our efforts are useless!  I want you to listen to some revealing dialogue between a man who’d been paralyzed for years. Jesus encounters him at the pool of Bethesda where he’d gone hoping to get into the healing waters (John 5).

Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be well?”

“Sir, there is no one to help me get into the pool. While I’m coming to the water, someone else always gets in before me.”

“Stand up,” Jesus respond.  “Pick up your mat and walk.”

“And immediately the man picked up his mat and began to walk.”

I wish we would do that; I wish we would take Jesus at His word. I wish we would learn that when He says something, it happens. What is this peculiar paralysis that confines us? What is this stubborn unwillingness to be healed? When Jesus tells us to stand—let’s stand!  Yes, God’s efforts are strongest when our efforts are useless.  So, let’s lean upon Him!

from He Still Moves Stones

Managing Tough Times 

How we handle our tough times stays with us for a long time! When you’re tired of trying, tired of forgiving, tired of hard-headed people, how do you manage your dark days? With a bottle of pills?  An hour at the bar, a day at the spa? Many opt for such treatments.  So many, in fact, we assume they reenergize the sad life. But do they?  They numb the pain, postpone the pain, but do they remove it?

Is there a solution? There is.  Be quick to pray.  Stop talking to yourself. Talk to Christ, who says, “Are you tired? Worn out?  Burned out on religion?  Come to Me. Get away with Me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. (Matthew 11:28).”

God, who is never downcast, never tires of your down days.“Come to Me,” Jesus says.  “I’ll give you real rest!”

Children of God 

What matters to you—matters to God! You probably think that’s true when it comes to the big stuff; the major-league difficulties like disease, death, sin, and disaster—you know that God cares. But what about the smaller things? What about grouchy bosses or flat tires or lost dogs? What about late flights, toothaches, or a crashed computer? Do those matter to God?

God’s got wars to worry about and famines to fix. Who am I, we say, to tell Him about my troubles?  I’m glad you asked.  The answer is found in I John 3:1. “The Father has loved us so much that we are called children of God.  And we really are His children.” I love that last phrase.  “We really are His children.”

John added that phrase for you. We really are His children! If something is important to you, it’s important to God!

Turn a deaf ear

Two kinds of voices vie for our attention.  One says, “God will help you.”  The other says, “God has left you!”

And here’s the great news:  you select the voices you hear. Why give ear to pea-brains and scoffers when you can, with the same ear, listen to the voice of God?  I had a friend who battled alcohol.  He tried a fresh tactic.  He gave me and a few others permission to slug him in the nose if we ever saw him drinking. If the wall is too tall, try the tunnel!  Try something different… God will help you!

Ephesians 1:19-20 says, “God’s power is very great for those who believe.  That power is the same as the great strength God used to raise Christ from the dead and put Him at His right side in the heavenly world.”

Turn to God and he will give you what you need.  Turn a deaf ear to the old voices. Open a wide eye to the new choices

God takes his time

Sometimes God takes His time. One-hundred and twenty years to prepare Noah for the flood. Eighty years to prepare Moses for his work. God called young David to be king, but

returned him to the sheep pasture. He called Paul to be an apostle and then isolated him in Arabia for fourteen years.

How long will God take with you?  His history is redeemed, not in minutes, but in lifetimes. We fear the depression will never lift, the yelling will never stop, the pain will never leave. Will this sky ever brighten?  This load ever lighten?

Life in the pit stinks. Yet for all its rottenness, doesn’t it do this much?Doesn’t it force us to look upward? The Bible promises at the right time, in God’s hands, intended evil becomes eventual good. You will get through this!

His child foreverI’m entering my fourth decade as a pastor and I’ve learned the question to ask. If we were having this talk over coffee and you were telling me about your tough times, I’d lean across the table and say, “What do you still have that you cannot lose?” The difficulties have taken much away.  I get that. But there’s one gift your troubles cannot touch.  Your destiny. Can we talk about it?

You are God’s child.  He saw you, picked you, and placed you. Jesus said,  “You did not choose Me.  I chose you.” (John 15:16).

I remember a young groom once leaned over, just minutes before the ceremony and said to me, “You weren’t my first choice.”  “I wasn’t, I responded?”  “No, the preacher I wanted couldn’t make it.”  “Oh, I said.”  He responded, “But thanks for filling in.”

You’ll never hear such words from God. He chose you. Replacement or fill-in?  Hardly.  You’re His first choice. His open, willful, voluntary choice.  Hear him say, “This child is mine!”  His child forever.  That’s who you are!

God Notices the Grateful Heart 

God notices the grateful heart. He took a praise-singing shepherd boy and made him a king.

There’s no hint of God getting out of sorts if we aren’t thankful. But there is evidence that we are affected by our own ingratitude. What of the disastrous days?  The nights I can’t sleep and the hours I can’t rest?  Am I grateful then?  Jesus was.

The Bible records, “On the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it.”  (I Corinthians 11:23). It’s not often you see the words betrayed and thanks in the same sentence, much less in the same heart. In the midst of the darkest night of the human soul, Jesus found a way to give thanks.

Anyone can thank God for the light. Jesus teaches us to thank God for the night. He says to us, “You’ll get through this!”  And we will.

Thank you, God

If you feel the world owes you something, brace yourself. You’ll never get reimbursed! Henry Ward Beecher said, “A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.” The sky is never blue enough, the steak isn’t cooked enough, the universe isn’t good enough to deserve a

human being like you.

Pursue gratitude.  The grateful heart is like a magnet, sweeping over the day, collecting reasons for gratitude. Thank you, God.  Your lungs inhale and exhale 11,000 liters of air every day. Thank you, God. For the jam on our toast and the milk on our cereal, the blanket that calms us and the joke that softens us and the warm sun that reminds us of God’s love. Gratitude leaves us looking at God and away from dread. It does to anxiety what morning sun does to valley mist. It burns it up!

Thank you God