Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Grateful Heart’s a Great Way to Start

MORNINGS are not everyone’s cup of tea, but I am a mornings person.
One morning in recent memory, a few years ago now, I got up in an unusual fog and was led to our lounge room.  Suddenly it dawned on me that there is so much evidence of my life, as if I could not hide my existence, if I wanted to (not that I would wish to).  My ‘footprint’ was everywhere.  But that wasn’t the end of this ethereal escapade.  Just as suddenly, within sight, I panned my head and saw my wife asleep, I considered my young son asleep, and then I surveyed the five children in photographs.  From some angles of life, it appears we don’t achieve much, but from what God was showing me, there was evidence everywhere of progress.
That wasn’t the final stop along this reflective sojourn.  In only about ten minutes God showed me something else.  Suddenly all the possessions I could see were like living legacies of times past where I’d done something, with family or friends, where I’d been actively involved in life.
I was overwhelmed as I sat there.  On the one hand, I wasn’t living an extraordinary life, yet on the other hand, from an eternal perspective, where every moment is significant, all my past moments and memories were extraordinary.  And what I was seeing was the evidence.
When we look around our lives, and seriously contemplate in silence and wonder, entering into moments of memory without rushing, God may enter that time with us to show us a new thing.  Something we had missed before.  None of us are insignificant.
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The amazing thing about this experience is it was actually a catalyst for getting me out of a problematic season that could have led to depression.  Those first waking ten minutes turned my world around.
A grateful heart, a heart full of praise, where God’s Spirit does raise: a new way to start.
© 2016 Steve Wickham.

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