“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” James 1:17-18
Abba Father, I know gratitude is a heart-habit before (and long after) it’s a feeling. So, on this August Saturday, here’s a few of your many gifts that should sabotage any whining and envy I can easily muster up.
First of all, thank you for giving Jesus. I know as Christians we’re “supposed” to start there and say that, but really… thank you for loving us so much you gave your one, unique, eternally-glorious Son, Jesus, to redeem us and make all things new. To have Jesus plus nothing else is 10,000 reasons enough to stay eternally thankful.
And, Father, thank you for what theologians call your “impassability” –which means you’re not like an emotional middle-schooler—reacting and acting, shifting and changing (James 1:17)—subject to hormones and circumstances. You do not change—so very constant in your sovereignty, love, and faithfulness.
Among the “good” and sometimes perfect-feeling gifts you give us, here are a few on my summer 2022 list. Thank you for the texture-firm, so-sweet, 37-degree-chilled watermelon I ate. Thank you for friendship—my friends have never meant more to me.
Thank you for the dance my fly rod does, and getting to yell, “Fish on!” Thank you taking me and Darlene through our 1st Covid infection, with very mild symptoms. Thank you for the joy serving with so many friends in the Global-advancing of the Gospel. Thank you, after a 4-year hiatus, for the feel and sound of striking a golf ball pretty well. I’m gonna keep adding to my list today, Father. So Very Amen.