We take good things for granted at times, don’t we? Our jobs, homes, cars; our daily substance. What a blessing to have these things; something that we should never take for granted. And yet, we complain and express our frustration to God instead of our praise.
Today I was grumbling inside my head as a thought about the 20% pay cut that we took at my secular job to help keep the doors open.
Then I saw on the news a story of a young family who lost their home, their jobs, and were looking for some stability in their situation.
Why is it that only when we are missing something like a job or spouse or home or our health that we express value to the missing item?
Why does it take hearing about someone who has even less than we do to get us to appreciate and to be grateful for what we do have? I’m told that it takes around 14 days to start a new habit.
Today would be a great day to start a habit of being grateful and thankful for all that He has provided us with. We really do have a whole lot to be grateful for.
Psalm 100 A Psalm of praise. Make a joyful noise to LORD, all you lands. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. 3 Know that the LORD, He is God. It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise; be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 5 For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endures to all generations.
When God wants to drill a man, And thrill a man, 
And skill a man When God wants to mold a man To play the noblest part; When He yearns with all His heart To create so great and bold a man That all the world shall be amazed, Watch His methods, watch His ways! How He ruthlessly perfects Whom He royally elects! How He hammers him and hurts him, And with mighty blows converts him Into trial shapes of clay which Only God understands; While his tortured heart is crying And he lifts beseeching hands! How He bends but never breaks When his good He undertakes; How He uses whom He chooses, And which every purpose fuses him; By every act induces him To try His splendor out- God knows what He's about. Author Unknown
Eph 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (NKJV)
I've been pondering God's love for us. No matter how hard we try to understand it, I don't think we realize just how much He loves us. He pursues us and He isn't satisfied with a part of us, He wants it all - all of us! We seek for Him, and yet He is the intitiator of the relationship. I rest in that, knowing that He will continue to draw me to Himself; He won't relent. I think that Misty Edwards says it best:
You Won't Relent by Misty Edwards
"You won't relent until You have it all
My heart is Yours
I'll set You as a seal upon my heart 
As a seal upon my arm
For there is love that is as strong as death
Jealousy demanding as the grave
Many waters cannot quench this love
Come be the fire inside of me
Come be the flame upon my heart
Come be the fire inside of me
Until You and I are one"
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LUKE 15 - Gifts from the Father
Meaning of the items that the father gave to his son:
v.21 the son has a speech prepared, he wanted to be treated not as a son, not as a slave but as an employee.
v.22 the father wouldn't hear his speech and speaks to the servants: My son is home! Get the robe, the ring, the sandals, kill the fattened calf.
The ROBE meant restoration of position!
The RING meant restoration of authority!
The SANDALS meant restoration of dominion! By putting shoes on the son, meant that the son could walk around his father's estate. Shoes were exchanged in the cutting of covenants. By putting on these items on the son the father was saying; Slave? NEVER! Employee? NEVER! You're my SON, and everything I have is yours. 
v23-24 The calf was prepared as a Covenental dinner to re-establish the father's relationship to the son. Why was the calf already fattened? The father had been waiting for his Son to come home.
We take good things for granted at times, don’t we? Our jobs, homes, cars; our daily substance. What a blessing to have these things; something that we should never take for granted. And yet, we complain and express our frustration to God instead of our praise. 
