I am grateful that God is creating, HAS created, a heart in me that is clean and covered in grace.
I am grateful to know that my CASA child will be a teenager and that I will begin this journey in June. Getting closer to our meeting day…
I am grateful for the sweetest video of my granddaughter I’ve ever seen. I can’t quit watching this. I just want to “squeeze her guts out,” as Mom would say:
Her mom has no idea where this came from, but it’s something about a wolf upstairs wanting to eat Andrae and Annistan, and she must save Annistan…and then at the end, you hear her say “The end!” I’m guessing it’s her version of Little Red Riding Hood or The Three Little Pigs, Collins style.
I am grateful for a letter from Aunt Patsy that included pictures of my Mom, Karissa and I at Dan & Candice’s wedding. Oh, I miss my Mom so much this week.
I am grateful for my Mom’s sewing kit that I happened to remember was in the closet this morning. I opened it, saw the material that she bought to make a blanket for Parker, and I sat on the floor upstairs and cried. It was a good, healing cry, but it made me so sad. I am grateful that I have this memory of Mom…
I am grateful for an unused computer tower that was sitting in the office that now belongs on the desk at home. I am grateful for my boss who insisted on giving it to us.
I am grateful for a friendly neighbor who came to help set up the computer.
I am grateful that I had enough gumption in me this morning to move the squirrel in the live trap on the patio so that the neighbors don’t call PETA on us, I didn’t get my fingers chewed off by the panicked rat with a cuter outfit, and I was able to go to work and leave the poor thing in prison without setting up “Free the Rotten Rodent” camp outside the door.
And I am grateful for this story from my devotions this morning:
When in Rome…do as the tourists do. At least that’s what my three friends and I were doing. At our first stop on our backpacking trip through Italy, we picked out the highlights from the travel book – the Vatican, the Coliseum, the Forum, and we were now in search for what the book called a “grotesque monument” dedicated to Victor Emmanuel.
I didn’t know what to expect, but in a Ripley’s Believe it or Not kind of way, I couldn’t wait to see this “grotesque monument.” I pictured a giant head of Victor Emmanuel with a bulging forehead or maybe a statue of a man with blood dripping down his face.
We knew we were close. According to the map, it was located somewhere near this humongous white building.
We started on one side of the building, but didn’t see anything there. We thought maybe we were on the wrong side, so we took the long walk across the building to the other side. Not there either. Maybe at the back? Nope. Not there. Did we miss it on the first side? We better check. Or maybe it was in the front? Our tired legs circled the mammoth building again and again, going down intersections and looking behind buildings. After spending an exasperating hour on the hunt, we finally stopped to ask someone to point us in the right direction.
“Go straight down this road about a block,” the kind stranger said.
“Which side of the giant white building is it on?”
With You stupid American radiating from his eyes, the stranger answered – “It is the giant white building.”
I’ve never wanted to swear so badly in a foreign language. How could we have missed it?!! We spent an hour looking for something that was right in front of us this whole time!!
This past incident makes me think about our search to find ways to live out our faith. Is it possible that this quest resembles us circling a big, white building.
We wonder if we have a bigger purpose – while we’re circling the big, white building.
We see others making a difference – while we’re circling the big, white building.
We pray that God will show us how to love – while we’re circling the big, white building.
Circling. Circling. Circling.
But what if we stopped our maddening loop – stopped looking for ways in which we think we can live out our faith and look at the building right in front of us.
What does your big, white building look like? Well… what has God already placed in your life that can be used for a grander purpose? Maybe it’s the neighbors you hardly know who you could invite over for dinner. Or your graphic design skills put to use for a worthy non-profit. The unlimited texts on your phone to send quick, encouraging messages. Your job connections for those in desperate, financial need. Maybe God wants to take an ugly past experience and use it to bring beauty to broken lives.
We’re totally missing it if we think God is waiting to give us ways to live into His purpose. He isn’t holding back that joy or reserving it for others. He’s given us skills, experiences, passions, resources, and gifts that can have eternal and everlasting impact. We need to stop playing ring-around-the-building, and not overlook the opportunities right in front of us.
One of my favorite songs ever:
rhondaisgrateful 