Practicing Awareness of the Presence of God Through Thankfulness

[Arial]

This morning I decided to try an experiment, just to see what would happen. I would thank him, sometimes out loud, sometimes in my head, for everything as I went along.

"Thank you that you kept me safe and alive through the night."
"Thank you for the coffee and the cup it is in, and the house in which I savor it. Thank you for the couch." etc.

I begin my morning chores. Having taken Boaz (dog) out to the back yard to do his business (Thank you for the yard. Thank you that even though I am old, I am able to take him out).

I feed him (Thank you for this food to feed him, and the supplements that he needs). I wash his bowls. (Thank you that I want to wash his bowls. This morning routine that is daily, monotonous, is usually done with my mind on the next monotonous, never ending thing, and internal complaints. Thank you for the water and that it comes out of taps, cold or hot, whatever I need).

I go through the rest of the necessary chores and then I go outside with Boaz again. He runs to pick up his bite stick, and I put on my ski gloves to protect my hands. (Thank you that he wants to play. (He had been sick and uninterested in play.) Thank you for the bite stick, his favorite thing. Thank you that I want to play with him.)

I sat out back for another cup of coffee. It was early morning, but the sun fully up. The sky was blue with scattered clouds, some puffy cumulus, dark gray at their centers, edged in white, catching the light. Others wispy mares tails, and small beginnings of a mackerel sky that would blow away before it fully formed. A waning gibbous moon hung midway between high center and the western horizon, pale like heavy cream. It was a perfect temperature. September. Neither chilly or too hot, but just perfect, and a light breeze teased from the south. It was gorgeous, an absolutely stunning morning.

Thank you for this beauty you have painted across the sky displaying your perfection and your glory. Thank you for letting me see it and appreciate it. Thank you for this peace and that you have wiped every worry and negative thing from my mind so that I do see it. Thank you for this joy.

There simply was no room for anything in my thoughts but contentment and peace. It is still early hours of course. But hopefully, when complaints, and irritations, and worry and distractions, cause me to forget God, to not be consciously aware of him and his care for me, I will remember to begin practicing this thankfulness. It reminds me that everything I have comes from his hand, and he has never failed me and never will.

I am well aware that doing this is not sustainable, at least it wouldn't be for me. But I find it to be a way in which I intentionally refocus on God throughout the day, and his constant, never waxing and waning, connection to me (us), when in my daily life, I spend time in communion with him and his word from a short time, comparitively, and then do the rest of my day, scarcely thinking of him in a personal way at all.

 

[Papa Smurf]

There simply was no room for anything in my thoughts but contentment and peace. It is still early hours of course. But hopefully, when complaints, and irritations, and worry and distractions, cause me to forget God, to not be consciously aware of him and his care for me, I will remember to begin practicing this thankfulness. It reminds me that everything I have comes from his hand, and he has never failed me and never will.

Hi Arial, I've had the same, wonderful/wondrous experience I am happy to report. As the Bible tells us,

1 Thessalonians 5​

16 Rejoice always; ​

17 pray without ceasing; ​

18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. ​

The really cool thing is that we can thank rejoice in/thank Him for all of the bad stuff too, the things that cause us to complain, be irritated, be anxious and distracted, that is, knowing that He has promised to use ~all~ of it to make us more and more Christlike .. e.g. Romans 8:28; Hebrews 12:7-11 (I don't have a very good handle on doing that yet, thanking Him for all of the "bad" stuff, that is, but I'm hopeful that it will happen more regularly in time)

Thank you for telling us all about your recent, personal experiences with this

God bless you!!

--Papa Smurf
p.s. - I'm sure you've seen this quote, but Spurgeon (as always) has a great way of putting it!

​

 

[Arial]

Hi Arial, I've had the same, wonderful/wondrous experience I am happy to report. As the Bible tells us,

1 Thessalonians 5​

16 Rejoice always; ​

17 pray without ceasing; ​

18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. ​

The really cool thing is that we can thank rejoice in/thank Him for all of the bad stuff too, the things that cause us to complain, be irritated, be anxious and distracted, that is, knowing that He has promised to use ~all~ of it to make us more and more Christlike .. e.g. Romans 8:28; Hebrews 12:7-11 (I don't have a very good handle on doing that yet, thanking Him for all of the "bad" stuff, that is, but I'm hopeful that it will happen more regularly in time)

Thank you for telling us all about your recent, personal experiences with this

God bless you!!

--Papa Smurf
p.s. - I'm sure you've seen this quote, but Spurgeon (as always) has a great way of putting it!

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That is a great quote!

The bad stuff never becomes pleasant while we are in it or even in our memory. And sometimes we can't find the thankfulness for it until we see the good that came out of it. I won't tell that story, but there is one in my life that was very painful. And through it I could not understand what felt like the silence of God. Now---I am so grateful! It was a remarkable rescue from a very bad situation! And it had the simultaneous good of God providing me and my presence for my 89 year old mother. There is never just one good being performed by God in a situation.