Obedience in Action

I enjoyed my day off by attending a dog show. It wasn't a big national dog show, just a local one. But it had a huge turnout and was fun all the same.

My friend Nancy showed her German Shepherd, Heidi, in the Novice B obedience competition. They've been taking classes for a while now, and their hard work paid off. Heidi listened to Nancy's commands and followed them well, getting distracted by the crowd only a couple of times. At the end of her performance, she was awarded with a blue first-place ribbon and some cute doggie items.

As I thought about Heidi's small acts of obedience and the rewards that it brought her, I began to reflect upon the most magnificent act of obedience that took place on this day, Good Friday, so many years ago.

God asked His only Son to die for the sins of all mankind. And though Jesus requested that God "take this cup" from Him, He stated that He wanted His Father's will to be done, not His own. And because of His obedience, we received the gift of forgiveness for our sins and new life in the Father.

Father, thank You for the work You did on the cross through your Son. When I am tempted to do things my way, please bring my mind back to the concept that obedience produces blessing.

Thankful Thursday

I’ve always thought that Thanksgiving should be a daily celebration. I’m not suggesting that we need the Macy’s parade, the big feast (though that & a good college football game would be nice), or even the time off from work.

Instead, I’m thinking more along the lines of a daily discipline of taking time to reflect on the many blessings that we’ve received during the day. Some people do this in the form of a gratitude journal, and that’s something that I’ve tried to incorporate into my life this year.

I started journaling my answered prayers and my daily blessings because it reminds me of God’s faithfulness in the little stuff. His faithfulness in the big stuff is pretty easy to remember. But, it’s those little things He does daily--like answering those tiny prayers that I sometimes don’t even speak out loud or even have time to fully develop--that I want to remember. Because they add up. And because they show me that God is at work every day.

When I’m waiting on God to answer one of my big prayers, and MY deadline for Him has long since come and gone, I want to give up. I tend to think that God has entered retirement. But, I know that can’t be true because I’ve got a whole list of things that He did yesterday and the day before that and the day before that and so on.

And because I know I’m going to write down these blessings at the end of the day, I am constantly on the lookout for God at work. I don’t know that I necessarily see more than I used to see, but I definitely pay more attention and hopefully have a more thankful attitude in general.

Today, June 7, 2007, God showed me that He was at work by having new neighbors move into a house across the street that has been vacant for almost a year (and by having them mow the 2-foot-tall yard, to boot!), by giving me energy to make it through the day in spite of a late night last night, and by healing an eye inflammation that has bothered me for two days.

So, what are you thankful for today? I’d love to know how God made you smile today.