I am enjoying a lovely morning. I’m sitting on my porch with the sun shining, mild temperatures, and leaves doing incredible things. These moments fill my soul and remind me that my cup truly runneth over. As I sit here basking in the presence of my Creator, I can’t help but be in awe of His provision.
My friend sent our Bible study group a text this morning that read, “The amount of good things in your life depends on your ability to notice them.”
Bam.
That landed in such a good place, and I think it is a perfect preamble to Thanksgiving.
There are so many things I love about this season: cooler weather, sweaters, bonfires, and trees showing us just how beautiful it can be to let things go. I also love that this is a time when many of us become more intentional about spotting the blessings in our lives. It is a season of purposeful noticing.
Now, anyone who knows me knows I may be the least observant person alive. I can drive past a building for two years and suddenly ask, “When did they put that there?” I am the first one to miss a patch of ice, step in the dog eggs scattered through the backyard, or fail to notice that someone with arms full of groceries is trying to get through a door.
Observation is not exactly my spiritual gift.
But one thing I do notice is beauty.
I notice glorious sunsets, dog snuggles, children laughing, animals being ridiculous, love shared between people, and the quiet goodness of a solid man beside me.
Maybe that comes from all the years I spent living in my own self-induced hell during addiction, when everything was chaos and drama. Sobriety taught me something precious: peace is not boring. Peace is holy. And once you have lived without it, you notice it everywhere.
Jeremiah 17:5-8 in The Passion Translation describes a person who trusts only in human strength as being like a tumbleweed in the desert: “Even when goodness is all around him, he won’t experience it.” But the one who trusts God is compared to a tree planted beside water, extending its roots into the stream. “It does not fear when scorching heat comes…It has no anxieties but continues to bear luscious fruit.”
That may be one of the secrets of Thanksgiving.
Goodness can surround us and still go unnoticed.
But when we turn our attention toward our Heavenly Father and begin looking for His fingerprints, ordinary moments become sacred. A sunrise becomes worship. A dog asleep against your leg becomes gratitude. Laughter from another room becomes abundance.
As Thomas Merton said, “A saint is not someone who is good, but someone who has experienced the goodness of God.”
So this Thanksgiving season, perhaps our prayer should simply be this:
Lord, give us eyes to notice.
Because when we do, we may discover that our cup has been running over all along.
No responses yet