People who live in the truth, that is, people who are humble, realize that all is gift and that we are here on earth to be recipients and transmitters of God’s grace. (32)
Bishop Robert Morneau, Not by Bread Alone
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All is gift.
Whether trial or triumph, all is gift.
Do I believe that? Really believe that?
How do we unwrap the gift we have been given?
The gift of life … abundant life … life to the full.
Do we rip through it never slowing to cherish the small, the slow, the still?
Or do we timidly open it afraid of what it might hold, wondering if tomorrow will be even worse than today?
Perhaps we are somewhere in between … vacillating between fear and ferociousness … but ever mindful that we are not living full.
I want to live full … to embrace the gift of all … all of the gift.
My friend, a wise woman with a humble heart, introduced me to a word ~ eucharisteo.
Thanksgiving … grace … joy.
And when we pursue that triad of words, the result is humility.
For only one who realizes her smallness can truly grasp the greatness of THE gift … His gift to us. Grace. Salvation. Relationship. Life.
Today, two weeks since Ash Wednesday, the fasting of Lent weighs heavy … the failure already, the forgetting, the flaws … so obvious to me and undoubtedly to others as well. It’s now the need for gratitude is easier for me to see … in my failure to give thanks, my failure to see the all-gift, it’s there I find myself bowed low. Small. Needy. Weak.
And there He is always … the Creator and Sustainer of Life, the Word Who spoke Life, the Savior who gives Life. He says,
I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). John 10:10 AMP
All is gift.
Full, rich, overflowing life is gift.
Will you live in that gift?
This book, One Thousand Gifts, a powerful tool to growing in gratitude.
Still trying to learn this in the middle of all the STUFF of life lately…..but I am trying.
Pattie recently posted…Gifts 10
Such a hard lesson, isn’t it? A lifetime to learn … and an eternity to practice.
Thank you for this encouragement today. I woke up this morning with a heavy heart, too. My Lenten disciplines are hard and seemingly impossible. Then I remembered ‘it’s not supposed to be easy – it’s a sacrifice and a lesson in obedience’. Duh.
Praise God for his grace, patience and mercy ( and prayerfully humor) as He continues to mold me, shape me, teach me and lead me straight to the cross.
Kristin recently posted…Black Bean Hummus
“It’s not supposed to be easy” … I’m there with you. Right there.
I needed these words of encouragement this morning. Struggling between my triumphs and failures & forgetting to see the gift in both. Thank you.
Jennifer M Krouse recently posted…When you ask
Oh Jen, I think we all live there sometimes.
I just finished “1000 Gifts” late last night. Now to re-read with Bible in hand to really unwrap the Scripture Gift too. I can’t get over how greedy… self absorbed… ugly I am and how just naming His Blessings changes the filter I look through. It doesn’t make me less ugly, but Him more Beautiful.
So, so true about all of us, Stephanie. Grateful for the discipline of counting … so grateful!