Gratituesday

I have been reading this blog lately and she always does "Gratituesday" posts on Tuesdays. I thought it was a fun idea, and one that I would try to incorporate... at least as often as I remember. The idea is to blog about something that you are thankful for. Not a hard thing to do for a girl like me. I have so much to be thankful for! I started by looking at some of my favorite quotes about thanksgiving. One of my favs is from G.K. Chesterton who contends that:

"Thanks is the highest form of thought, and gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."

I just love that. A.W. Tozer offers this thought:

"Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us can make and not be poorer, but richer for having made it."

How true! I have found that being thankful, and offering gratitude and thanksgiving to God for the blessings he has so graciously allowed me to enjoy is not something that is a sacrifice for me to do... but a true blessing. My soul is fed by that attitude, my heart is at peace and I am truly my happiest when my mind is focused on the fact that I don't deserve anything but Hell, yet my gracious, merciful Savior has allowed me to enjoy SO MANY blessings, most importantly, the gift of salvation. One anonymous author said:

"The things we take for granted are dreams to many people."

I would change the many in that statement to "most". I truly believe that we are one of, if not the most materially blessed nations, not only today, but of all time. However, we are pretty spiritually impoverished. How many times I have wondered at the fact that not only was I born an American, with material blessings to spare and spiritual freedoms to enjoy... but also I was born into a Christian home, and have been blessed with eternal life and the ability and desire to grow in sanctification under the teaching of not only my own wonderful pastor, but pretty much anyone I desire to sit under whether it be online or from a book etc. Do I want to read some Luther today? Let me just pick one of my books up off of the shelf. Do I want to see what C.H. Spurgeon says about that passage? Let me just google it. In fact, maybe I'll check this verse out in my NASB, my ESV and my KJV just to see if there are any slight variations for me to ponder. I mean, it is absolutely amazing to me that God decided to place me in this country, in this home, in this time period in history where I am able to enjoy more blessings than most people in the history of the world could have ever concieved of in their wildest imaginations! This is a terrifyingly humbling thought! I want to say, "why me? I am not sure I want this responsibility. I certainly don't deserve it. There must be someone better!" But, for some reason, God has placed me here. I know this much, I think that I am here for a reason, and I don't think that reason is to glut myself with all of the greatest teaching the world has to offer, and not do anything with it for Christ.

Have you figured out yet that I don't actually have a solution to this problem? I'm just letting you in on some of the different thoughts swirling about in my head. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with learning. It is my favorite thing to do in my spare time, and I think that the more I can be in the Word, the better! I just think that there must be something more that God wants me to do with all of the tools He has graciously given me. What might that be? Well, at least for now I know that I am called to be a "worker at home" and I am to be raising up my children to love the Lord. They are my mission field. I do not want to neglect that for some other "mission" that seems to be more important. I know this is my primary responsibility. I LOVE this responsibility, my delight comes from caring for this family God has given to me. I can't think of anything I would rather do. I just have this feeling sometimes that God wants more from me. What do you think?