Vibrant Lives

  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Inspiration Corner
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Inspiration Corner

Spirit of Gratitude...

11/22/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
This week we celebrate being grateful. Thursday is the actual Thanksgiving Day, which commemorates how the pilgrims gave thanks for surviving a harsh winter and a bountiful harvest. Sometimes I think we see this day as just about eating turkey, watching the parade and of course football. It also ushers in the start of the holiday shopping season. Too often, we get so wrapped up in all of the events and food that we forget the reason Thanksgiving exists. This day is not a religious holiday. It is an American day of gratefulness. That being said, everyday should be a day that we celebrate being alive, being free and able to speak as well as protest and hold free elections. There is so much we should be grateful for each and every day.

As a woman of faith, much of what I am grateful for comes from my belief in God. Throughout my entire life, God’s presence has been with me in tough times, happy times, sad times, and actually all times of my life. In some of those tough moments, I want to feel the reinforcement of God’s care so I turn to comfort of Psalm 139. This text assures me that God’s Spirit knows me completely and surrounds me so that even when I am most troubled and in my darkest hours, I do not have to worry because God is there, lighting the way for me. The psalmist writes that I am completely hemmed in by God.
 
What does it mean to be hemmed in? What proof is there that God surrounds me? One morning as I sat on my deck, with my coffee, it occurred to me that I was surrounded by God’s handiwork. There were trees swaying in the breeze, the grass was a lush green carpet, the blackbirds were squawking overhead, and the water was blue and gently lapping at the shore. I felt the warm air on my face and it became real to me that God completely surrounded me with his great work in creation. As the sun began to rise, I felt its warmth and imagined in that heat, I was in the presence of the creator. I was hemmed in.
 
 The scripture goes on to include me in the created world as the next verses say this, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.”
 
God’s hands knit me together. I try to imagine God’s hands forming and shaping me together and it reminds me of my first knitting lesson. My sister was clever with her hands. She sewed most of her clothes, she cooked, and she could knit and crochet too. I on the other hand spent most of my time outside playing sports with my brothers. My mom wanted to raise well-rounded daughters so she thought it would be a good idea for me to learn how to knit. I don’t know what she was thinking! I would have to sit and concentrate and be patient all at the same time. Under my mom’s encouragement, my sister agreed to teach me how to knit a pair of slippers. So off to the store we went to buy some yarn. I had no idea there were so many colors. There was a vast array of reds, greens, blues, and yellows. So many colors, so little time.  After looking and touching the different yarns, I chose a soft yellow for my slippers. Much to my surprised, before we could start the actual knitting, I had to carefully roll the yarn into a ball to prevent it from becoming a knotted mess. Once that was completed, we could finally start knitting. Patiently my sister described and demonstrated each of the steps. My hands and mind were completely involved in the process. We followed a pattern; it went like this, knit one, pearl one, knit two, pearl two. I continually had to maneuver the needles through the yarn and eventually the slippers began to take shape. Once the pattern was completed, my sister showed me how to stitch the sides and the toe area together to create the sheath for the foot. Oh yes, let’s not forget the most fun part of the slipper, the puffy tassel. When one slipper was completed, I had to start the process all over again to create a complete pair of slippers. Let me just say that it was the one and only pair of slippers that was ever created by my hands. Considering how much time it took me, I can only imagine how much time God took in knitting me together with all of my intricate parts. Just like me, having to patiently work through the process by touching each thread, holding needles, and following the pattern, made me realize that God, when knitting me together, was familiar with every part of me too. It makes me realize that I must be very important to God.
 
This entire chapter shows me that I am surrounded in God’s love. Even in my toughest moments, God’s Spirit is never hidden from me but remains faithfully within me. God is not limited by my understanding and knowledge of him. The Psalmist writes that God knows everything about me including all of the mistakes and missteps I have done and loves me anyway.  In this week of thanksgiving, I want to spend some time thanking God for knitting me together, and for the world around me, and for the friends and family who love me, and for the people who challenge me to be a better human being. I am grateful for you!
Happy Thanksgiving!
 
 

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Denise seeks to empower people to live into their true potential...
                               Read More

    Archives

    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

    Categories

    All
    Abundance
    Acceptance
    Adapt
    Adult
    Advent
    Adventure
    Alzheimer's
    Angelic
    Angels
    Art
    Attention
    Baby Jesus
    Baptist
    Beauty
    Belief
    Believe
    Belonging
    Be Still
    Betrayed
    Black Lives
    Blessed
    Blessing
    Bold
    Bounty
    Breathe
    Brithday
    Brokenness
    Build Together
    Call
    Captivity
    Caring
    Celebrate
    Challenged
    Champion
    Change
    Chaos
    Children
    Choice
    Christ
    Christ Child
    Christmas
    Church
    Community
    Comparisons
    Compassion
    Confidence
    Courage
    Creating
    Creation
    Creativity
    Crooked Lines
    Cross
    Crowd
    Crown Of Thorns
    Crucifixion
    Darkness
    David
    Dawn
    Decisions
    Delighted
    Denied
    Depression
    Determination
    Detour
    Disciples
    Discovery
    Divine
    Divorce
    Dry Bones
    Easter
    Empowered
    Equality
    Extravagance
    Eyewitness
    Failure
    Faith
    Faithfulness
    Family
    Father
    Fear
    Flame
    Forgiven
    Forgiveness
    Freedom
    Friend
    Fruits Of The Spirit
    Game
    Gift
    Gifts
    Gladiator
    Glorious
    Glory
    God
    God Given Gifts
    God-given Gifts
    God Moments
    God-moments
    God's Glory
    God's Love
    God's Timing
    Grace
    Grateful
    Gratitude
    Greatest
    Greek
    Handiwork
    Healed
    Heart
    Holding Space
    Holidays
    Holy Spirit
    Home
    Honor
    Hope
    Hopelessness
    Humanity
    Humility
    I AM
    Identity
    Imperfection
    Inside
    Isaiah
    Jesus
    Jesus Christ
    Job
    John 3:16
    John The Baptist
    Journey
    Joy
    Judging
    Labels
    Lent
    Light
    Liminal Space
    Lion's Heart
    Listen
    Lonliness
    Lord's Table
    Lost
    Love
    Love One Another
    Manager
    Manger
    Mary
    Matter
    Memorial Day
    Memphis
    Mended
    Mercy
    Messiah
    Messiness
    Ministry
    Mom
    Mothers
    Moving
    Music
    Mystery
    Nations
    Nativity
    Neighbor
    New Beginning
    New Birth
    New Day
    New Year
    Open
    Pain
    Paradise
    Parents
    Partner
    Peace
    Pentecost
    Persistent
    Perspective
    Potter
    Power
    Praise
    Prayer
    Preparing
    Presence
    Promise
    Psalm 23
    Purpose
    Pursuit
    Questions
    Radical
    Radio
    Randomness
    Remember 9/11
    Respect
    Rest
    Restoration
    Resurrection
    Risen
    Running
    Sacred Pit
    Sacrifice
    Salt
    Savior
    Scarsity
    Second Best
    See Others
    Serenity
    Servants
    Sharing
    Shepherd
    Shines
    Sibling
    Simon Of Cyrene
    Son
    Spirit
    Spirit Of God
    Spirit Of Love
    Stone
    Storm
    Storms
    Strength
    Suffering
    Suffering Servant
    Surrender
    Temptation
    Thankful
    Thanks
    Thanksgiving
    The Wall
    Together
    Tomb
    Tower Of Babel
    Traditions
    Transition
    Trauma
    Traveler
    Trinity
    Trust
    Understanding
    Undervalued
    Unfaithful
    Unity
    Unworthy
    Value
    Virus
    Vision
    Voice
    Voiceless
    Waiting
    Wandering
    Water
    Weeps
    Welcome
    Wilderness
    Wind
    Window
    Wisdom
    Woman At The Well
    Women

    RSS Feed

MENU

HOME
BLOG
ABOUT
CONTACT

COPYRIGHT © 2015 VIBRANTLIVES.NET

CONNECT WITH US