Thankful 21...

I am thankful for pictures.

Photography is a complicated craft.  Amazing things can be captured...a moment in time snatched and recorded....often becoming a treasured piece of our past. Looking back at photographs can put us back in that same moment, bring back emotions of the moment... 

Modern photography can make us look really good.  If you know how, you can look slimmer, have a flawless complexion, or enhance the image in dozens of other ways.

A photograph, untouched, shows us what we look like. It mirrors that moment of time, snatched away and documented.

It seems I photograph pretty well. Photographs of me look better than the real deal ! I'm not sure why that is.....I look at photographs of myself, and even I think "...you don't really look like that..." Perhaps I have a knack for posing...


This morning, I am also thankful for the picture of me that my Creator God sees. 

He doesn't see my flaws, He sees me flawless.
He doesn't see my bumps and bulges, He sees me perfect.

A snapshot of me, made at the foot of the cross...
A snapshot of me, a moment in time, when I was snatched away, rescued and redeemed....

It is documented.  My name is on The Lamb's Book of Life. My name written on the palm of His Hand.


"For the LORD's portion is his people....In a desert land He found me, in a barren and howling waste.

He shielded me and cared for me..
He guarded me as the apple of is Eye..
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions...The LORD alone led me..."(Deut. 32:9-12, personalized by me)

 I believe my picture might just be on His mantle......

Thankful 20...

I am thankful for harmony.

There's not anything I can think of offhand that I enjoy more than good four part harmony.  I love voices blended, complimenting one another, completing each other....connecting to make a whole.

It isn't really logical.  How can sounds that are completely different be so absolutely perfect?

But there is something you can actually feel when perfect harmony happens, you don't just hear it....and you don't just feel the vibrations of your own voice or someone else's.  It isn't just 'pretty'...it is absolutely spiritual, (especially if the message of the song is positive, and even if it is negative, the spiritual aspect of the song's message is still there and is dangerous). 


The harmony of music mirrors what happens in the universe around us. Each aspect of nature compliments the rest, making complete. The cycle of life....


There is another kind of harmony found on the pages of scripture.  Our Bibles contain the complete harmony of God's Voice.  His Triune Deity speaks and sings to us thru what is recorded.  From Genesis to Revelation, the harmony of His Song is perfect. 

I purpose to listen to the entire Song, not just a little phrase or two, not just the lead melody, not just the high harmonious parts, but entirely.

God is so creative.

Thankful 19...

I am thankful for persistence......

Thankful for the persistence of my alarm clock as I hit the snooze button 5 times every morning. Every morning it prods and encourages me to wake up, get up, and go on with the agenda at hand.


Thankful even more for the the persistence of The Holy Spirit of God, Who nudges me over and over again, prodding me and encouraging me to get up and go on with Him with the agenda at His Hand.

As always, it is my choice. Often, I slap the snooze button a few times...but He is the hound of heaven, and persists in encouraging me to obedience.

Both personally, and as a nation, I am reminded of Jeremiah's recorded warning and it's actuality....

".......the LORD has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention.
 Those prophets and servants said, "Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices......Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not provoke me to anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you."

"But you did not listen to me," declares the LORD, "and you have provoked me with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves."
Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: "Because you have not listened to my words, I will......" (Jer. 25:4-9) 
Our God is persistent.  His desire is that we obey Him.  Not because He is domineering, mean, and nasty....but because He knows the best and wants the best for us.

My God is persistent.  His desire is that I be involved in what He is doing, hand in hand with Him throughout my every day. 

 I purpose to stop slapping the snooze button so often......

Thankful 18...

I am thankful for the church. 

I am thankful for the church family.

And most of all, I am thankful to have come to understand that my secure salvation does not lie with either, but is in Christ Jesus alone. 

Now....I better get busy or I'm going to be late getting there to be with all of them today !! 

Thankful 17...

I am thankful for taste.

I have known people who have lost their sense of taste.  Hard to imagine...

I am not as much a fan of food as some people, but I do enjoy a good meal.

I love chocolate.

As I sit and reflect this cool November morning, with my pumpkin spice coffee in hand, I am thankful to be able to enjoy taste. 

God is so creative...............

Thankful 16....

I am thankful for a great staff.

I've been working behinf a styling chair in a hair salon since 1973.  I've worked with quite a few people.  I've learned from each and every one of them.  Some, from the negative.....



I'm not the greatest hairdresser there is.
I'm not the greatest business owner...
I'm not the greatest teacher, or mentor.
I'm not the greatest anything for that matter !

So, why I've been so blessed has nothing to do with my greatness.

 Why God has chosen to bless me in the ways He has is beyond my comprehension.

Tonight, as I reflect on the 16th day of thankfulness, I again count my co-workers as great blessings.

They do good work.
They care for people.
They support each other.
They trust.
They love.


They have my back.
They endure.
They don't give up or give in.
They strive toward their goals.

I've been so blessed to see them reach some of those goals, and enjoy watching them grow toward new goals.

I have a great staff.  And am blessed to call them friends.

Thankful 15....

I am thankful for purposes.


And I am especially thankful to understand a little of what mine is......

"...For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. .." (Jeremiah 29:11)

Who I am is not just an accident or a coincidence.  Certainly, who I have become is a product of the choices I have made.  Some of them wrong ones....

But God has created me with the possibility to choose an incredible life.  

God's truth is that when my life was first sparked, when it first began in my mother's womb... He assigned a plan for my life.  He knew who I would be, and what I could accomplish with His help and guidance. 

 He also knew what I would be without Him. And as from the very beginning, it is my choice to take that path, or devise my own.   

I am thankful that none of us are left to our own devices. We aren't just thrown into life without purpose. Neither are we without help and guidance. 

"But...... my people wouldn't listen to me.....wouldn't obey me...So I let them go their own stubborn way.  I let them follow their own sinful plans"(Ps. 81:11-12)
I too, follow my own plan from time to time.  (Hopefully not on purpose..!!) 

 Somewhere along the way, thru the struggles and wrong choices, I began to understand the purpose of my life.  It is a process. 

and an adventure....