Thanksgiving VI ~

13-19 January:  In this week, I have been thankful for enjoying memories of a wonderful, warm message from Becki Rogers at the eleven o'clock worship service as well as the performance of the Christmas portions of "Messiah" from the Palouse Chorale and a chamber group at St. Gertrude's Monastery Chapel - what a blessing for ONE Sabbath! I was thankful for memories of treating G.B. illness on the Navajo Reservation, a pair of meds that relaxed the little muscle at the opening and allows easier passing of a "stuck" gallstone" - maybe hot applications over the area might be effective (hydrotherapy is a wonderful and well-proved - if time consuming - technology); I was thankful for this message to believers in 2 Corinthians 5:19-20 where we read: "... In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." (RSV); thankful to be seen as "precious" in the eyes of the Ruler of the Universe (Isaiah 43:4); I was thankful for the unexpected appearance of the Pampered Feet nurse at my door yesterday (she'd had to cancel a pre-Xmas visit due to weather issues, then illness and more illness and I'd not heard from her since - but she'd put me in her appointment book!); thankful for this message in 1 John 4:20-21 where we read: "If someone says, ‘I love God’, but hates their brother or sister, that person is a liar. Someone who doesn’t love a brother or sister whom they have seen, how can they love God, whom they haven’t seen? This is the command we have from Him: anyone who loves God should love their brother or sister too." (NTE); thankful for a new, on-line Bible study daughter Laural has started, "Written In Red", and beginning in the Gospel of John (started with John 1:38); thankful for our local medical testing capabilities - a G.B. ultrasound scheduled for today, but all indications are the the blockage has cleared in answer to our prayers; thankful for the freedom Jesus promised in John 8:31-32 where it is written: "...`If you obey my word, you are truly my disciples. And you will understand the truth and the truth will make you free.'" (WE); thankful for the blessings upon blessings provided daily by our Father - a family that loves and cares for me, a warm place out of the wintry weather, good food to eat and to share - and so many more; thankful for this insight as I was musing on "minimalizing" - at what point does "enough" become "abundance" then change to a curse of "too much ____"?  I was thankful for this truth found in John's Gospel: "I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon." (John 15:1-7; MSG); thankful for the group effort that brought me to our mid-week prayer service Wednesday evening and then back home - thanks to a D.S.I.L. and a dear couple from church; thankful for every night when sleep comes quickly and is little disturbed; thankful for this counsel from Philippians 2:14-16 where it is written: "Do all things without murmurings and disputes, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world, holding up the word of life ...." (WEB); thankful the Creator has given us a "real life" example of what it will be to "be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:51-52) in the metamorphosis of caterpillars into butterflies; thankful to think that day cannot be too far away; thankful for this message from 1 Corinthians 10:13 where we read: "The only temptations that you have are the same temptations that all people have. But you can trust God. He will not let you be tempted more than you can bear. But when you are tempted, God will also give you a way to escape that temptation. Then you will be able to endure it." (ERV). Help me, Father, to LOOK for the escape route You've provided!  I was thankful for the weekly blessing of God's Sabbath - a time He set apart for getting to know Him through worship, Bible study, prayer, and praise, a time for family, for enjoying all He has created to delight our senses; thankful to see my efforts to gain strength showing progress; and I was thankful for these words from the Sermon On the Mount as recorded in Matthew 7:12 where we read: “Treat other people exactly as you would like to be treated by them—this is the essence of all true religion.” (PHILLIPS).