Yet, at base, gratitude in and for our lives colors everything else in them. In fact, the theme for Day 4 is: Be thankful for the journey of your life. Does that sound odd? Are you thinking, "Not MY life - not this year (day, decade...)?"
But if we believe that we walk through life in the presence of God, if we believe He can make even the most difficult and ugly situations into something beautiful through His grace and His patience love, then it is only right to stop and thank Him for the journey.
As I look back, some years have been difficult, some have been filled to the brim with joy and giggles, laughter and love. A few years crept by with each day lasting a painful eternity. Thirty years ago, my life's path looked like a smooth ribbon ahead, with a lightening-bright career leading the way. If anyone had told the 24-year old me how the next thirty years would pass, I would not have believed it. I might have laughed. I would certainly not have wanted to sign up to walk that path. Yet, oh, how glad I am that I have passed this way.
As I grow older, I see life more as a patchwork quilt than a ribbon of highway. The way isn't straight, the pattern isn't always obvious, and I STILL don't know what it will look like when it is finished! I think most of us feel the same way. Life doesn't turn out as we had planned, but if we let God lead, we don't regret the dance. Letting go of a dream or dear desire - if that is required - is painful, even traumatic. Yet if we stubbornly cling to that which cannot come, our hands are full and cannot accept the blessing God extends to us.
Have you notice that life seems to come in blocks - of time, of purpose- and when one block ends, another begins? My time as a C.F.O. came to an end. Then, I spent years trying to figure out how to spend days with my babies, throwing papers, cleaning churches, doing whatever work I could do around their days, scrambling to keep my priorities in front of me. For over ten years, I cared for elderly relatives - first one, then another. The 24-year old me would have jumped off the potter's wheel; but the 44-year-old me knew that the pain and frustration I was experiencing were the palpable signs of God at work in me, burning away the flesh of sin and self.
Whenever one block in my life's quilt comes to an end, I'm always eager to see what material the Lord lays before me to work with next. I'm in a transition time now, and I wonder what will come of the bits and pieces I am sewing together with my time. What will God bring? What will He winnow; what will He transplant into a bigger part of my life and heart?
So, for today, let's be thankful that we can always exult in the joy and privilege of knowing that God is in control, that He is the impetus of our journey, and the purpose of its pattern. He leads on, and we should delight to follow.
We are thankful, Lord, that You walk with us in the way. May we walk faithfully, bringing glory to You. Amen.
Blessings,
Cara & Patti
Classic Christianity