Plucking Out Burrs

November... It's that thankful month. The month that I don't always feel particularly thankful. In fact, it's a month that instills a certain level of panic in me most years because it is the month that I realize just how behind schedule I am. It is the month that from the first I keep telling myself that I have thirty days before I have to think about Christmas... Then November 27th hits and I realize that I am woefully behind the eight ball, staring down December and feeling anything but thankful.

It was in this state that I walked into my studio this morning. I prayed on the chilly trek out here that God would give me something to say. Something that had meaning and purpose. I prayed that God would reveal in me another burr to pluck out and heal with His love. I sat... And I sat... Nothing. I reached for my first devotional and He spoke from the pages about Thankfulness. I glossed over it. I reached for my second devotional and He spoke to me about His purpose for me and His love. I couldn't make the words apply to me. I tried a few posts of my own from journals... Flat. And then I went back and re-read the pages He gave me.

"A life of praise and thankfulness becomes a life filled with miracles. Instead of trying to be in control, you focus on Me and what I am doing." Ok... You have my attention now, Lord. A life filled with miracles? Really? And the relinquishing of control... Well, lets face it. I never had it anyway. God is in control - Has been since the beginning of time. What I want, what I think I need - It isn't going to come to pass unless it lines up with what God wants.

Then there was my second little book... "Long before you began seeking Me, I had designs on you for glorious living." The verse that accompanies it, "It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for." Eph 1:11 (Msg)

So now, now that my attention is fully engaged, I begin to realize that God is speaking to my heart about my lack of thanksgiving. Without a heart that is focused on how amazing God is and without being incredibly thankful for His love, I cannot become His instrument, living a glorious life. I won't realize my potential in who I am and what my purpose is. To become His, living gloriously and fulfilled by the purpose I was created for, I have to hit my knees and cry out to Him all of the things I am thankful for.

My job is not to be the best financial planner a barn has ever seen. My job is not to live a life of controlled madness, pinching pennies and fretting over delinquent accounts. My job is to open my hands and my heart to see with clarity the things that God has handed my family. They may not be items I can put actual hands on, but God is always providing. A heart filled with thanksgiving is not preoccupied with where the next meal is coming from. A heart filled with thanksgiving lives each moment thanking the Lord for what is before it, right now at this instant in time.

While the holiday of Thanksgiving may be over for another year, I am reminded that we as Christians are called to live it out daily. Thank God for waking you up this morning. Thank Him for what He is doing in your life and for having designs on you for glorious living. He is the ultimate deliverer! Trust Him to deliver you a life that witnesses, no - better yet: is filled with miracles...

Be blessed!