For life that beats within...

Thanksgiving #39 Thanksgiving Day

           One of the greatest honors man or more specific...woman bears is the honor of participating in God's mightiest and marvelous miracle...that of bearing new life.  I can't help but marvel tonight when I saw Grace, my beautiful sister-in-law, bear that little life within her tiny frame.  A separate heart and mind that beats and thinks apart from her, the very one who carries her.  That's right, that little one is a precious baby girl.  She'll arrive and make her debut in January.  How amazing is God' amazement, how marvelous His marvel.  I'm grateful for the life that beats within Grace.

For the hope of eternity...

Thanksgiving #38 Thanksgiving Day

                Have I stood in the presence of Light to only see the depravity of my dark?  Have I seen truth in its fullness to sense its stark contrast from lie?  Have you felt the depth of another's care against the depth of being alone?  It's these deep contrasts that allow us to sense what life is felt on this side of heaven.  For as long as we walk on this side of heaven we will always have the contrast of being on this side of heaven...until one day we will fully know the fullness of residing within.  I am grateful for the hope of eternity that rests only within the ONE that gives it.

For best buddies in baby and brother...

Thanksgiving #37 Thanksgiving Day

             Eats and more eats, feating and more feasting...and yes, fellowship and drawing close to those near and dear to you.  I'm in the kitchen deep in preparation for our Thanksgiving feast... confidant and secure in knowing and seeing my youngest confidant and secure in the care of our Sweet Sam.  He always was and is nurturing, patient, kind, and protective over his lil' brother G.  He follows his baby brother around like a pama bear over his cub.  He plays and entertains him with a daddy's love.  If I've never uttered a word of thanks for this sweetness between two brothers, I've felt it and known it from the very beginning of their beginning.  Oh, dear Jesus, I am grateful You gave best friends in the same family.

For the example of the 12 year old Jesus....

Thanksgiving #36

                 Raising a teen is not the easiest.  Yet with its challenge and hurdles, it has to be one of the most rewarding and blessed times of parenting.  You see the culmination of heart and effort and nurture in the makings of this young boy through his speech and deeds.  Oh, yes, he challenges and bucks and may even gripe a bit here and there, but he is beginning to test his wings.  He wasn't meant for flight on his parents' wings but his own.  Getting from here to there is filled with stretching, growth pains, and sometimes heart ache.

I'm so grateful for the example that Jesus left when he started marking his destiny, his own flight when He was only 12 years old.  At that time, He went to Jerusalem to observe the Passover Feast with His parents, as He did each year prior.  When it was time to leave, He stayed behind.  When Joseph, his earthly father, and Mary, his mother, came back to search for him.  He reminded them that shouldn't He be found in His Father's house.

But isn't Joseph His father?  Of coarse, Jesus in that moment, was marking his departure from his parents, yet still with grace, love, and honor for His parents.  Jesus claimed to be in His Father's house, yet knowing his earthly father to be Joseph.  Joseph and Mary might have been hurt at Jesus' response, but they knew He was beginning His flight for his own ministry on earth.

Just as my son has...

As He stakes out to claim what is his...his own walk, his own story...his own flight...as a mommy I'll commit to continue to stand beside and beneath him.  But now, he must go before me...

He's taking flight.  I'll love him all the while.  I'm grateful for the example our Lord left us to encourage hope during this time of parenting.

For warming shelters in stretches of cold...

Thanksgiving #35

                  21...that's the number my car thermometer read last night.  My children watch excitedly as the the number fell from 41 (being inside the garage) down 20 more.  Brrr.... understatement.  I think that many of us can say that we are very grateful for the warmth of shelter and roof over from the elements outside...a kind of a blessing that many of us may take for granted, or at least I have.  No, today, I am grateful for the many ministries that touch the hurting and downtrodden.  Imago Dei Community, Portland Rescue Mission, Union Gospel Mission, and...Rolling Hills Community Church.  These faith communities use their resources and blessings to provide for the Portland poor...to provide warmth and shelter...food and drink...hope and light...to a watching and desperate world who so needs the light and warmth of Christ.
I am grateful for these communities...for warming shelters in stretches of cold.

For the marvel in the first few fall of flakes...

Thanksgiving #34

                The night quieted down and the sky drew closer and blacker.  It had filled with clouds heavier and fuller than typical.  Then when things were already quiet, it drew even more...and it began.  The first few measures of soft, falling flakes crescendoed into an orchestra of a sky-filled white.  It sounded magnificently quiet and breath-taking.  I've seen it before and every year, but each time I do, it holds my breath captive.

The boys rushed out to crunch the first layer and roll their bodies in it's soft, cool blanket.  You would have thought that they've never seen anything like it.

Just the day before, I was feeling discouraged that I don't believe I've taught my children the blessing of how to marvel.  Tonight, I didn't have to...they knew exactly how to upon the first sight of marvel.

Grateful for the first sight of marvel...He is marvelous and wonderful.  The first few fall of flakes...

For Operation Christmas Blessing...

Thanksgiving #33

              Operation Christmas Child...Christmas boxes...have you heard of such a thing?  It's international...it's global...it's the body of Christ reaching all over the world.  8 million children received shoe boxes last year.  130 different impoverished countries all over the world have been touched by Operation Christmas Child.

For what?  To demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Yesterday after church, my family and I picked up and dropped off 69 Christmas boxes to their drop off site.  We dropped off 43 boxes on Friday night...that makes over a hundred boxes.

One of those boxes if not more may end up in my family's country - the Philippines.  What a blessing to have been a part of this mission.

Soli Deo Gloria!

To Him be all the glory!