I started writing this last November.  Probably with the Thanksgiving holiday in mind.  But I was reminded recently to be thankful and to give thanks.  So, even though this is woefully inadequate, I HAVE to thank God for sooooo much.  Here is a list that is but the tip of a huge iceberg….

1 Chronicles 29.10-19 The Message

David blessed God in full view of the entire congregation:

Blessed are you, God of Israel, our father

from of old and forever.

To you, O God, belong the greatness and the might,

the glory, the victory, the majesty, the splendor;

Yes! Everything in heaven, everything on earth;

the kingdom all yours! You’ve raised yourself high over all.

Riches and glory come from you,

you’re ruler over all;

You hold strength and power in the palm of your hand

to build up and strengthen all.

And here we are, O God, our God, giving thanks to you,

praising your splendid Name.

 

“But me—who am I, and who are these my people, that we should presume to be giving something to you? Everything comes from you; all we’re doing is giving back what we’ve been given from your generous hand. As far as you’re concerned, we’re homeless, shiftless wanderers like our ancestors, our lives mere shadows, hardly anything to us. God, our God, all these materials—these piles of stuff for building a house of worship for you, honoring your Holy Name—it all came from you! It was all yours in the first place! I know, dear God, that you care nothing for the surface—you want us, our true selves—and so I have given from the heart, honestly and happily. And now see all these people doing the same, giving freely, willingly—what a joy! O God, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, keep this generous spirit alive forever in these people always, keep their hearts set firmly in you.”

I thank God for thinking me up – for imagining a “me” on this earth.  Somehow, He fashioned me and then there was breath and then – life!

I thank Him for the family I grew up with and the specific parents he gave me.  I love them very much, and appreciate them more as the years go by.  I have 3 younger brothers and a little sister.  And they blessed me even more by marrying people who have become my friends and family and then there are these 8 nephews (the Moslander name increases!) and 2 nieces…treasure!

I thank God for the seasons.  The fall makes melancholy, and I am forced to fill winter with wondrous things to endure it, but I wait with heightened anticipation for spring and summer to come back around, for the green fruitfulness of life to draw me back into dirt-digging and tomato-growing.

I am so thankful God decided to draw me to the garden and teach me things about Him there.  He told me recently that I am a tend-er.  I tend His garden.  It is what I do, by assigment.

There are these friends.  I am not a good friend, but God has given me some great ones anyway and I am learning.  I am actually surrounded by the most amazing people…

I appreciate a good rain, really green grass, leaves that are fluttering in a soft breeze.  I am so grateful for these azure skies in this Colorado valley, when l’heure bleu falls around like grace and romances the end of the day.  I love this blue You have created, Father.  It is un-replicatable.

So grateful for words and a beautiful melody and if the right lyric is paired with notes that have fallen from heaven, there is a magic to the song and you know it immediately: this song is special.  Tara recently sent me one and it brought me to my knees in seconds.

I thank God for Dave.  He married me.  He has stayed married to me.  He keeps chasing me down to love me.  Lucky me.

I thank God for the children He gave me.  They weren’t there, didn’t even exist in my imagination – and then we made them and then we spent these precious years with them.  And then they became the most fabulous people in the universe.  Some one recently asked me if all of our children were so amazing, were such blessings.  “Yes.”  I told her, “They are ALL wonderful.  We are so blessed!”

I get to do Heaven Fest.  I did churchy-work for years.  I worked in the marketplace.  God blessed the work of my hands at every turn, I have experienced favor time and again.  But HF is special.  I am getting to see real Acts 2 church-life in action – with people from so many churches across the Front Range that you can almost taste the food of the banqueting tables in heaven.  So this is what it will look like, I ponder.   And finally, I am comprehending that heaven really is a wonderful place – Abba Father and His people, all of us enjoying eternity together as much so much more than even this Heaven Fest thing we get to do!

I deserve none of it, not even a crumb of a blessing.  I am not just saying that.  God would tell you it is true if that were His way.   I thank Him.  I haven’t deserved it nor made any of it happen.  He has.  Everything, all of it, it has all come from His hand.  Thankful, grateful, overwhelmed by mercy – which does come running at the least expected moment.  God is good.