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Unexpected blessings

I was inspired! All of the kids and their dates were going to be home Sunday. It's been a long summer and we haven't had too many family dinners where everyone was in attendance, so I decided to go all out. I set about on Saturday to prepare the meal for Sunday. I cooked up potatoes for my potato casserole, made dessert, set the table and made it pretty. I did all of the work I could so that Sunday's meal would come together quickly when we got home from church. I made sure the table was properly set and looked nice, as well getting the house presentable for company. We all sat down to enjoy that lovely meal and the conversation and laughter that is a common theme for our family dinners. It was nice. It was homey. It was comfortable. But then....

As soon as dessert was over, off everyone went in their own direction. The younger boys headed out to the kitchen to get the dishes done and clean it up, my husband headed off to work with a ministry he is involved in, my daughter and her boyfriend left to go do some things and my older son and his girlfriend also exited. I wasn't sad or angry---this is just very typical. Dinner had been an enjoyable time--it just didn't seem to last very long.

The following Sunday, I didn't know who was going to be there. I decided on something simple for lunch--hamburgers and fries. I always like those meals because all I have to do is prepare the fries (throw them in the oven!) and fix a few ingredients to go on the hamburgers. Hubby does the cooking on those days. Clean up is easy and I haven't spent half of the day working on the meal. When this meal was over though, people hung around the house. My daughter worked on some college stuff with her dad and the boys played video games. My oldest son came and sat with me in the living room and started sharing with me how the sermon that morning had convicted him. We spent the next hour having a beautiful and deep conversation that really touched my heart. My daughter had also gotten to spend some valuable time with her dad. I smiled to myself, realizing that the afternoon had been a gift--a blessing. Despite my efforts the week before to have a wonderful and lavish meal and help to 'create a memory', the blessing didn't come on that day ...the blessing came simply and unexpectedly the following week.


That got me to thinking about the holidays. I love the season we are about to go in to.  I love the fall decorations, the food, the crafts, the cooler weather....you name it!  I'm hooked!  Then to top it off, Christmas!  Love Christmas!  Again....love to decorate, love to create, love to bake, love the movies and the music and the....I could go on!  But what drives me to work so hard during the holidays? Is it my attempt to create an atmosphere where the memories are created and the blessings can flow?  Aww....but that isn't how it works, is it?

God blesses as he wills, when he chooses.  It is not dependent on me in any way, shape or form.  I can't create the perfect atmosphere, will my family to act in a certain way, or do enough to say, "Look God!  I did this well!  I worked hard!  I accomplished the task!  I did it right!  Now, bless me please!"  I've been rethinking my efforts over the last several years regarding holidays, desiring to scale things back a bit and wishing to soak in the beauty of the holidays, rather than only experience the dizzying rush!  But I also desire to absorb life too--not just the moments we think are supposed to be special---birthdays, weddings, holidays and vacations, but to see the blessings in plain 'ol ordinary everyday life!  Why is that?  Because.

Because God has already given me the greatest blessing I could ever want or desire.  That blessing is that he sent his son to take my place.  I don't have to pay the penalty for sin--Jesus paid that penalty for me.  What bigger blessing could there be?  He is.  He is the great I AM.  Just knowing him is blessing enough...and it comes simply and unexpected.

 "The man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed. Jeremiah 17:7 (NASB)


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