Thankfulness, Joy and Family

There are times when a blog just overtakes your day.  And this is one of those.

In the midst of favoured strains from my Bose speaker and on the subject of family…I must, nay, really must…. say my piece!

Life brings tears and joy, sadness and pain but also, yes, those moments when a person just collapses at the computer, thanking God over and over for the family and the love that exists in this world. But it’s a rare time, so often going unchronicled and unnoticed in my world when really…it demands a monument and a landmark!

These experiences are heightened and exaggerated in my soul, but so often can be ignored. The choice between the two is mine.

So easily and simply can I let this undeniable ‘sweet candy for my heart’ slip unnoticed through the cracks in my busy day, there being destined to become one of the ‘cutting floor scraps’ that drop below my desk.  So habitually can I be gainfully occupied with so many of those ‘more important’ bits and papers crowding out this food for my heart and soul.

 

Amidst the crying and the suffering of nations, the degeneration of values and society in our time, can we just pull up at least once every day and be grateful, be thankful, be at peace with what God has graciously given to us in His unfailing and unfathomable generosity? Can we put the guilt that crowds us because of a world gone wrong aside, and highlight this good, this memorable, this brilliance that floods into our personal world? Life is to be enjoyed.

Family.

It is a joy and a gift unspeakable.

When I look at the speed and the depth of the communication worldwide that is social media, I can either despair at the lack of personal and ‘real’ time with those I love, or I can choose to be grateful.

I am eternally grateful that within a moment of time, from across our expansive globe, can come the pictures of a gathering of siblings in one of the world’s great cities, the birth of the newest member of our family in a hospital in the Southern Hemisphere, and even the ‘real time’ of a Periscope movie that’s happening…right here, right now – or right there, right now! All at once…maybe this is how God is viewing my world….

 

Who could ever begrudge me the intrusion into my day of the musings and the fun photos and ‘selfies’ that interrupt my accounts and my bills due, my travel itinerary building, my email replying…. and thoroughly disrupt me and send me in floods of joy-tears to write down how grateful I am?

Who would dare to tell me to ‘prioritize’ my day when these beautiful intrusions bring such joy to my heart?

And like a climactic surge,building and releasing more adrenalin than a run through a forest, I sit, composed now but coming down from the wonderful window into the lives of the ones I love. These ones who make me live their lives with them, though in different countries and varied time zones. They rattle at my organization and they push their way through cyber-space to my desk in my antipodean closet here and demand my attention!

And I am grateful to God.

I will pay attention to the world later….but these few moments of reflection, gratitude and joy are mine.  Thank you Jesus.

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